Fact · Typing and writing speed
327words per minute
A 1961 magazine report, quoted in a 2010 Language Log post, says Kennedy was timed in bursts of 327 words per minute, most often when he spoke off a prepared text.
Checked against its source on October 16, 2026
In the source's own words
“But Kennedy has been timed in bursts of 327 w.p.m.”
Kennedy Speed: Fact or Factoid?, Mark Liberman, Language Log, 2010, Post body, quoted magazine passage.
Open the original- What it measures
- The figure is quoted in the post with the sentences that surround it. Language Log notes the claim refers to bursts, not to the overall pace of a speech.
- What it does not show
- Bursts of a few seconds, reported secondhand. It does not give the speed of a whole speech, and no recording was used to measure it.