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David Gergen

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Gergen at the 2008 World Economic Forum

David Richmond Gergen born May 9, 1942; is an American political consultant and presidential advisor during the administrations of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. He is currently Director of the Center for Public Leadership and a professor of public service at Harvard Kennedy School.[1] Gergen is the Editor-at-large for U.S. News and World Report and the Senior Political Analyst for CNN.[2]

Family and education

David Gergen was born in Durham, North Carolina.

Gergen is the youngest of three children of Aubigne Munger (née Lermond) and Dr. John Jay Gergen, the chairman of Duke University's math department.[3][4][5]

His brother, Kenneth J. Gergen,is a psychologist and professor at Swarthmore College.[6] David served in the U.S. Navy for three-and-a-half years, serving on a ship home-ported in Japan.[7] Gergen earned his bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1963. In 1967, he received his law degree from Harvard University, and is a member of the D.C. Bar. In 1967 Gergen married Anne Gergen of England. She is a family therapist and they live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They have two children, Christopher and Katherine and four grandchildren.

Professional career

Political activity

Gergen has served four presidents including President Nixon, President Ford, President Reagan and President Clinton. Gergen joined the Nixon White House in 1971, as a staff assistant on the speech writing team, a group of heavyweights that included Pat Buchanan, Ben Stein, and Bill Safire. Two years later, he took over as the director. Gergen went on to become the Director of Communications for President Gerald Ford and President Ronald Reagan, a counselor on domestic and foreign affairs for President Bill Clinton and his Secretary of State, Warren Christopher, and an adviser to the 1980 George H.W. Bush presidential campaign.In addition to serving in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations, Gergen was also a campaign staffer for George H. W. Bush's 1980 presidential campaign. Despite his long-standing association with Republicans, Gergen has stated that he is actually an independent,[8] and served as an adviser to Democratic President Bill Clinton, first as a Counselor on both foreign policy and domestic affairs and then as Special International Advisor to then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher.[9]

Educational, journalistic and other professional activities

Following his years in public service, Gergen works as a political journalist,Commentator, editor, teacher, public servant, and best-selling author. He was the first managing editor of Public Opinion, a magazine affiliated with the American Enterprise Institute,and from 1985-1986 he worked as an editor at U.S. News & World Report. Following his service in the Clinton Administration, Gergen resumed his relationship with U.S. News, and currently serves as editor-at-large. In 2000, he published a NY Times bestseller book, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton.

Gergen’s career in television began in 1985, when he joined the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour for Friday night discussions of politics.During that period, he was a regular commentator for five years on the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, providing a conservative viewpoint counterposed to that of Mark Shields.During his tenure, Gergen had the opportunity to interview many leading intellectuals, including American philosopher Martha Nussbaum.[10] Gergen also moderated PBS's World@Large discussion program for two seasons.[9] In addition, he has also appeared on MSNBC Hardball with Chris Matthews CBS and The Colbert Report. Currently, Gergen is a Senior Politcal Analyst for CNN and frequently appears on Anderson Cooper 360 and The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer. Gergen has also been a guest on NPR.

Gergen's frequent television appearances as a political commentator and pundit occasionally made him the target of satire. In a biting critique of the pedantic and frequently self-evident predictions made on some televised political talk programs, humorist Joe Bob Briggs made the observation that David Gergen bore an uncanny resemblance to The Cat in the Hat.[11]

Gergen has been actively involved in higher education. As of 2006, Gergen has been a professor of public service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of its Center for Public Leadership.[12] A Durham native, Gergen has also taught at Duke University from 1995 to 1999. Today he is now a trustee. Gergen served as Elon University's inaugural Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership and as the Chair of the Elon University School of Law Advisory Board. Gergen is active on many non-profit boards and is Chairman of the National Selection Committee for the Ford Foundation’s program on Innovations in American Government. He is an active as a speaker on leadership and sits on many boards, including Teach for America and the Aspen Institute. He is a member of the Washington D.C. Bar and the Council on Foreign Relations, and holds 21 honorary degrees.[7] He is a past member of Bohemian Grove[13]

See also

References

  1. ^ HKS Faculty Biography
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ http://www.davidgergen.com/index.php?page=personal
  4. ^ http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10D13F93C5812718DDDAC0894D9415B878AF1D3
  5. ^ http://www.math.duke.edu/info/gergen.html
  6. ^ Swarthmore College Faculty Page
  7. ^ a b "David Gergen Biography". davidgergen.com. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
  8. ^ David Gergen, Master of The Game, October 31, 1993, New York Times.
  9. ^ a b Our Team: PROFESSOR DAVID GERGEN, 2006-2007, Oxford International Review.
  10. ^ "Culture Wars"
  11. ^ Schmitt, Mark, Straight Line Projections http://markschmitt.typepad.com/decembrist/2006/03/straightline_pr.html
  12. ^ Biographical Note: David Gergen, 2006, Fora.TV.
  13. ^ [2]"
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