Adam Frankel Obama’s Speechwriter on Identity Crises, Family Secrets, Intergenerational Trauma and Healing

Adam Frankel’s maternal grandparents survived the Holocaust and built new lives, with new names, in Connecticut. Although they tried to leave the horrors of their past behind, the pain they suffered crossed generational lines- a fact most apparent in the mental health of Adam’s mother. When Adam sat down with her to examine their family history in detail, he learned another shocking secret. His beloved dad was not in fact his biological father and no one knew.

At just 25 years old, Adam was a senior speechwriter for President Barack Obama when he discovered he was only half of who he thought he was. This new knowledge created an identity crisis Adam tried to push down but manifested in panic attacks because he couldn’t speak to his dad about it for fear it would break his heart.

Adam goes on a journey to define his family’s bond and ultimately rewrites his family’s story in truth to build a life for his own young family. In his book, The Survivors- A Story of War, Inheritance and Healing we come to see the nature of our families’ traumas may vary but each of us is faced with the same choice. We can turn away from what we’ve inherited or we can confront it in the hope of moving on and stopping that trauma from inflicting pain on future generations.

Adam is a graduate of Princeton University and the London School of Economics and Political Science, where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Currently, he is an advisor to Emerson Collective, a social change organization, and Fenway Strategies, the communications firm founded by Jon Favreau and Tommy Vietor. Adam lives in Arlington, Virginia with his wife and two children.

SHOW NOTE LINKS:

Adam Frankel’s Website

The Survivors: A Story of War, Inheritance, and Healing

Borderline Personality Disorder

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