Peter Roussel

Peter Roussel is an American journalist, TV and radio commentator, author and former press spokesman who was born in 1941 in Houston, Texas. Careers in journalism and the creative arts have been a characteristic of his family.

Family history

Peter Roussel's late father, Hubert Roussel, was amusement editor and drama, music and film critic for The Houston Post, also being a columnist for that newspaper, 1933-66. His book, The Houston Symphony Orchestra 1913-71 was published in 1972. During his career as an arts critic, the elder Roussel reviewed and interviewed performing arts icons of that era, including: Sergei Rachmaninoff, Arthur Rubinstein, Leopold Stokowski, Sir John Barbirolli, Gertrude Stein, Marian Anderson, the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, Leonide Massine, Alexandra Danilova, Clark Gable and Judy Garland. Among assistants to Roussel at the Post were those who later went on to notable writing careers, including Donald Barthelme and David Westheimer. Peter Roussel's late mother, Dewey Roussel, was a teacher and actress and served as president of the Houston Little Theatre. She also was a reporter on The Houston Post. She helped organize the Houston Stage Canteen during World War II. Peter Roussel's older brother, Hubert Roussel, Jr., was also a graduate of Lamar High School, class of 1941, where he was a basketball letterman. Hubert Roussel, Jr. enlisted in the Army Air Corps during World War II and as a member of a B-29 crew was lost on a mission in the Pacific on December 13, 1944 at age 20. Dewey Roussel's story about her eldest son, Message of the White Dove, appeared in the September 1985 issue of Reader's Digest. Peter Roussel also has an older sister, Stephanie, who has been a ballerina and actress. Peter Roussel's late uncle, Roy Roussel, was city editor of the Houston Press in the 1930s, one of the reporters on the staff then being Walter Cronkite.

Education

Peter Roussel began his education in Houston in 1946 at St. John's School. While there, he participated in football, basketball and track. He graduated in 1961 from Lamar High School. He received the Lamar High School Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2000 and the St. John's School Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2003. He attended the University of Houston, graduating in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science degree. In 1983 the University of Houston honored him with their Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 1986 he received their first Distinguished Communications Alumnus Award.

Career with Federal Government and national figures

Peter Roussel began his career with the Federal Government in 1969 when he was asked to be press secretary to then U.S. Congressman George H. W. Bush. In 1970 he was campaign press secretary in Mr. Bush's race for the U.S. Senate. When Congressman Bush became U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1971, Roussel joined him there as his personal press officer, serving during a two-year period of headline-making events, including the admission of the People's Republic of China. In 1973 Ambassador Bush was appointed Chairman of the Republican National Committee and Roussel continued to serve as his personal press officer.

Roussel went on to serve two tours of duty in the White House. In 1974 he assumed his first assignment there as staff assistant to President Ford. In 1976 he transferred to the President Ford Committee as special assistant to the campaign's national director, James A. Baker, III. In 1978 he served as communications director for Mr. Baker's campaign for Attorney General of Texas.

From 1981-87 Roussel served in the White House under President Reagan as special assistant and deputy press secretary. His duties as a spokesman for President Reagan included briefings of the White House press corps and traveling with the president on domestic and foreign trips, including summit meetings with Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Geneva in 1985 and Iceland in 1986. On one of his first days in the Reagan White House, Roussel went to Phoenix, Arizona to handle media relations and serve as press spokesman for the landmark historic nomination of Sandra Day O'Connor as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Post-government career

Peter Roussel is now a TV-radio commentator and writer based in Houston, Texas. He is the author of the novel Ruffled Flourishes, published in 2009. The novel is a satiric look at the daily travails of reporters covering the White House, attempting to squeeze accurate information from presidential representatives. The late Jack Valenti, former President of the Motion Picture Association said of Ruffled Flourishes: "It's a superior piece of work, reeking of authenticity." From 1996-2003 Roussel was executive vice president and a managing partner of Neumann Roussel Public Relations. His career in public relations and advertising began in 1966 with the firm of Rives, Dyke & Co. and has included professional experience with five firms in three cities. From 2004-2008 he was a columnist for Intown magazine, writing a monthly column and serving as editor, June 2005-May 2008.

In 2009 Roussel was appointed to the Warner Chair of Journalism in the Department of Mass Communication at Sam Houston State University where he teaches courses on public relations and press-presidency interactions.