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// Workers AI · dad joke modeWho's Lissa Muscatine? A purr-fect writer.

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lissa Muscatine
Muscatine in 2025
Deputy Assistant to the President of the United States
In office
2000–2001
PresidentBill Clinton
Director of Communications to the First Lady of the United States
In office
2000–2001
PresidentBill Clinton
First LadyHillary Clinton
Special Assistant to the President of the United States
In office
1996–1998
PresidentBill Clinton
Personal details
BornAlison Muscatine
1954 (age 71–72)
California, U.S.
PartyDemocratic
SpouseBradley Graham
Children3
Parent
EducationHarvard University (BA)
Oxford University (PPE)

Alison "Lissa" Muscatine (born 1954) is an American former journalist and political aide who was the chief speechwriter for First Lady Hillary Clinton during the Clinton administration, a role in which she is credited with writing some of the most significant speeches of Clinton's public career, including her Women's rights are human rights address at the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995.

Muscatine later served as chief of speechwriting and senior adviser to Clinton during her tenure as secretary of state. Since 2011, she has co-owned Politics and Prose, an independent bookstore in Washington, D.C., with her husband Bradley Graham, a former editor for The Washington Post.

Early life and education

[edit]

Alison Muscatine was born in California[1] in 1954 to Dora and Charles Muscatine.[2][3] She attended Willard Middle School.[2] She received her Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University,[4] and was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University in 1997,[5][6] where she studied philosophy, politics, and economics.[2]

Career

[edit]

Before entering public service, Muscatine worked as a journalist, editing and writing for The Washington Post, The Washington Star, and the Delta Democrat Times.[7][4][8] She was a contributor to The New York Times and a number of magazines.[7][4]

Clinton and Muscatine in 1995

From 1993 to 1998, Muscatine served as a speechwriter to President Bill Clinton, though she mostly wrote for First Lady Hillary Clinton;[9] she was special assistant to the president from 1996 to 1998. From 2000 to 2001, Muscatine was deputy assistant to the president as well as Hillary's director of communications. Muscatine helped write Hillary's Creators Syndicate column, Talking It Over,[10] as well as Hillary's 1996 book It Takes a Village.[11][6]

Muscatine speaking at a Politics and Prose event in 2025

After Bill Clinton left the White House, Muscatine collaborated with Hillary on her 2003 memoir Living History.[4] She went on to work as a speechwriter and senior advisor to Hillary during her 2008 presidential campaign, and from 2009 to 2011, she served as both chief of speechwriting and senior adviser to Hillary while she was secretary of state.[12][13]

In 2011, Muscatine purchased the Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, D.C.[13] Muscatine is writing a book, Hillaryland, detailing her time in Hillary's eponymous inner circle.[14][15] Though she played no formal role in Hillary's 2016 presidential campaign, Muscatine–described by The Washington Post as a "still very much a Clinton loyalist"–publicly urged her former boss to go off-script and be more candid with voters.[16][17]

Muscatine was the campaign treasurer for Wes Moore's 2022 Maryland gubernatorial campaign, but stepped down from the role in December 2021.[18]

Personal life

[edit]

Muscatine is married to Bradley Graham, whom she met while working at The Washington Post.[13][19] The couple live in Bethesda, Maryland,[5] with their daughter, Wynne, and two sons, Cole and Max.[20][21] Muscatine, a member of the Democratic Party,[9] endorsed Hillary in the 2016 presidential election.[22]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Apple Jr, R. W. (October 30, 1977). "Rhodes Scholarship Women Adjust to Life at Oxford". The New York Times. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "Lissa Muscatine". Willard Middle School. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  3. ↑ Maclay, Kathleen (March 17, 2010). "Charles Muscatine, Chaucer scholar and educational reformer, dies at 89". Berkeley News. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Rhodes Women Luncheon with Lissa Muscatine". The Association of American Rhodes Scholars. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Lissa Muscatine". Society for International Development. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  6. 1 2 "Alison "Lissa" Muscatine Spotlight". William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  7. 1 2 "Lissa Muscatine". Penguin Random House. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  8. ↑ Muscatine, Lissa; Graham, Bradley (April 1, 2011). "Why we bought Politics and Prose". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  9. 1 2 "The FRONTLINE Interview: Lissa Muscatine". PBS. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  10. ↑ "Letter of Notification of Presidential Records Release (Clinton)" (PDF). National Archives. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Battle Of The Books". CBS News. February 22, 2008. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  12. ↑ Snow, Deborah (April 19, 2017). "'Worst political event of my lifetime': Lissa Muscatine on the Trump ascendancy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  13. 1 2 3 Roberts, Roxanne (June 15, 2014). "Hillary Clinton and Lissa Muscatine: From first lady and speechwriter to author and bookseller". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  14. ↑ Charles, Ron (April 19, 2017). "Former Hillary Clinton speechwriter set to publish an insider account". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  15. ↑ "Interview: Lissa Muscatine, former aide to Hillary Clinton". ABC News. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  16. ↑ Hohmann, James; Viebeck, Elise (October 8, 2015). "The Daily 202: Longtime Hillary speechwriter says she should be less scripted". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  17. ↑ Muscatine, Lissa (April 27, 2015). "Hillary Clinton is not 'calculating' or risk-averse. I watched her take a huge gamble — and it paid off". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  18. ↑ Kurtz, Josh (December 21, 2021). "Moore Replaces Campaign Treasurer in Wake of Labor Dispute at Her Bookstore". Maryland Matters. Retrieved August 9, 2026.
  19. ↑ Roberts, Steve (July 1, 2012). "A New Chapter". Bethesda Magazine. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  20. ↑ Gerhart, Ann; Groer, Annie (August 28, 1997). "The Reliable Source". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  21. ↑ "Commencement confetti 2017". Harvard Magazine. June 8, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2026.
  22. ↑ "More than 200 Maryland women leaders endorse Clinton". WBAL. April 9, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2026.
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