David Richmond Gergen (last name ; born May 9, 1942) is an American
political consultantPolitical consulting, beyond the self-evident definition of consulting in political matters, refers to a specific management consulting industry which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns. This article deals primarily with the development and nature of political consulting...
and presidential advisor during the administrations of
NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and is the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States ....
,
FordGerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
,
ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
, and
ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
. He is currently Director of the Center for Public Leadership and a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Gergen was born in
DurhamNot to be confused with the U.K. city Durham.Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake county. It is the fifth largest city in the state by population, with 223,284 residents as of July 1, 2008. Durham County as of July...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. He has a brother, Kenneth J. Gergen, a psychologist and professor at
Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
. Gergen earned his
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
in 1963.
They’re also a valuable supplement to the daily press, but like any new breakthrough, there is a dark side. (February 2005)
On the subject of blogs
I for one hope that some of the standards of the old world carry over. (February 2005)
On the subject of blogs
That's none of your damn business. (before February 2005)
On the Bohemian Grove
"A reader is not always a leader, but a leader is always a reader." (February 2004)
On the importance of reading
David Richmond Gergen (last name ; born May 9, 1942) is an American
political consultantPolitical consulting, beyond the self-evident definition of consulting in political matters, refers to a specific management consulting industry which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns. This article deals primarily with the development and nature of political consulting...
and presidential advisor during the administrations of
NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and is the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States ....
,
FordGerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
,
ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States and the 33rd Governor of California .Born in Tampico, Illinois, Reagan moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1930s...
, and
ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
. He is currently Director of the Center for Public Leadership and a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Family and education
Gergen was born in
DurhamNot to be confused with the U.K. city Durham.Durham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake county. It is the fifth largest city in the state by population, with 223,284 residents as of July 1, 2008. Durham County as of July...
,
North CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located on the Atlantic Seaboard in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties...
. He has a brother, Kenneth J. Gergen, a psychologist and professor at
Swarthmore CollegeSwarthmore College is a private, independent, liberal arts college in the United States with an enrollment of about 1,500 students. The college is located in the borough of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia....
. Gergen earned his
bachelor's degreeA bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for four years, but can range from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
from
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
in 1963. In 1967, he received his law degree from
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
, and currently is a member of the D.C. Bar. That same year Gergen married Anne Gergen of
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. She is a family therapist and they live in
CambridgeThe city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. It is also at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen....
,
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. They have two children, Christopher and Katherine.
Gergen served in the U.S. Navy for three-and-a-half years, serving on a ship home-ported in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and is a well-known proponent of mandatory national service.
Political activity
In addition to serving in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations, Gergen was also a campaign staffer for
George H. W. BushGeorge Herbert Walker Bush was the 41st President of the United States . He was also Ronald Reagan's Vice President , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence....
's 1980 presidential campaign. Despite his long-standing association with Republicans, Gergen has stated that he is actually an
independentIn politics, an independent is a politician who is not affiliated with any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do not feel that any major party addresses...
, and served as an adviser to Democratic President
Bill ClintonWilliam Jefferson "Bill" Clinton was the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president; only Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were younger when entering office...
, first as a Counselor on both foreign policy and domestic affairs and then as Special International Advisor to then-Secretary of State
Warren ChristopherWarren Minor Christopher is an American diplomat, lawyer, and public servant. During Bill Clinton's first term as President, Christopher served as the 63rd Secretary of State...
.
Educational, journalistic and other professional activities
Following his years in public service, Gergen has been actively involved in higher education. As of 2006, Gergen is a professor of public service at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government and director of its Center for Public Leadership. A Durham native, Gergen has also taught at
Duke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892...
, where he is now a trustee. Gergen served as
Elon UniversityElon University is a private, liberal arts university located in Elon, North Carolina.The University was founded in 1889 by the Christian Church, which is now the United Church of Christ. Formerly known as Elon College, it became Elon University on June 1, 2001...
's inaugural Isabella Cannon Distinguished Visiting Professor of Leadership and as the Chair of the
Elon University School of LawThe Elon University School of Law is an American law school located in Greensboro, North Carolina, occupying the former downtown public library building. The school spent $10 million renovating the . facility. The School of Law is one of four graduate programs offered by Elon University...
Advisory Board.
Gergen has had a long career in journalism and political commentary. From 1984 to 1993, Gergen worked for
U.S. News & World ReportU.S. News & World Report is an American newsmagazine published in Washington, D.C. Along with Time and Newsweek, it was for many years a leading news weekly, although it focused more than its counterparts on political, economic, health and education stories...
, including two-and-a-half years during which he served as editor. 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 ShieldsMark Shields is anAmerican political columnist and commentator.Since 1988, Shields has provided weekly political analysis and commentary for PBS’ award-winning The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. His current sparring partner is David Brooks of The New York Times...
. During his tenure, Gergen had the opportunity to interview many leading intellectuals, including American philosopher
Martha NussbaumMartha Nussbaum is an American philosopher with a particular interest in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, political philosophy and ethics....
.
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 BriggsJohn Irving Bloom , who uses the pseudonym Joe Bob Briggs, is a syndicated American film critic, writer and comic performer.-Early years:...
made the observation that David Gergen bore an uncanny resemblance to
The Cat in the HatThe Cat in the Hat is a children's book by Dr. Seuss, featuring a tall, anthropomorphic, mischievous cat, wearing a tall, red and white striped hat, and a bowtie. He also carries an umbrella. With the series of Beginner Books that The Cat inaugurated, Seuss promoted both his name and the cause of...
.
Following his service in the Clinton Administration, Gergen resumed his relationship with U.S. News, and currently serves as editor-at-large. He is also the author of the NY Times Bestseller Eyewitness to Power, describing his views of the Presidents he worked for - Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Clinton. In addition, Gergen is a political contributor to
CNNCable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is an U.S. cable news network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States...
and frequently appears on Anderson Cooper 360. He also appears on
MSNBC'sMSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States and available in both the US and Canada. Its name is a combination of "MSN" and "NBC"....
HardballHardball with Chris Matthews is a talk show on MSNBC, broadcast weekdays at 5 and 7 PM hosted by Chris Matthews. It originally aired on now-defunct America's Talking and later CNBC. The current title was derived from a book Matthews wrote in 1988, Hardball: How Politics is Played Told By One Who...
with
Chris MatthewsChristopher "Chris" Matthews is an American news anchor and political commentator, known for his nightly hour-long talk show, Hardball with Chris Matthews, which is televised on the American cable television channel MSNBC...
. He moderated PBS's World@Large discussion program for two seasons.
Gergen is active on many non-profit boards and is Chairman of the National Selection Committee for the
Ford Foundation’sThe Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
program on Innovations in American Government. He is a member of the
Bohemian ClubThe Bohemian Club is a prominent private men's club in San Francisco, California, United States.Its clubhouse is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco...
,
Council on Foreign RelationsThe Council on Foreign Relations is an American nonprofit and nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to improving the understanding of U.S. foreign policy and international affairs...
and the
Trilateral CommissionThe Trilateral Commission is a private organization, established to foster closer cooperation among the United States, Europe and Japan. It was founded in July 1973 at the initiative of David Rockefeller, who was Chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations at that time...
.
External links
- Official personal website
- PBS Biography on David Gergen
- David Gergen speaks to Jane Wales at the World Affairs Council of Northern California, October 10, 2006, video commentary on the Bush Administration.
- Transcript: Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees, February 7, 2008, CNN
Cable News Network, almost always referred to by its initialism CNN, is an U.S. cable news network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first network to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television network in the United States...
.