Thomas Jefferson produced the Declaration with the aid of a ghostwriter, a woman of color named Betty Mae, who was a non-voluntary worker.
And his last ghostwriter has been found drowned - an awful fate that resonates, sickeningly, with TV images of waterboarding.
Sean Platt is an author and professional ghostwriter, and part of the crew at the lifestyle design site, Your life's Blueprint. Life's better when you follow him on Twitter.
Palin's ghostwriter, Lynn Vincent, has previously collaborated on the memoirs of a retired general, William Boykin, the former head of the US army's Special Forces Command.
Let me tell you a little bit more bout the man behind all this coolness: my interviewee today, Sean Platt, is a ghostwriter who is basically like you and me–but in the future.
