White House Press Secretary

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White House Press Secretary
' 'Office of the Press Secretary
Incumbent: Robert Gibbs since: January 20, 2009
First	George Edward Akerson
Formation	1929
Presidential succession	Not of Cabinet rank
Website	whitehouse.gov/briefing_room

In August 2006, President George W. Bush hosted seven White House Press Secretaries before the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room underwent renovation. From left, Joe Lockhart, Dee Dee Myers, Marlin Fitzwater, Bush, Tony Snow, Ron Nessen and James Brady(seated) with his wife Sarah Brady.

The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration. Since January 20, 2009, Robert Gibbs is the Press Secretary to U.S. President Barack Obama.

History

This section requires expansion with: how media was handled prior to creation of office in 1928.

Responsibilities

The Press Secretary is responsible for collecting information about actions and events within the president's administration and around the world, and interacting with the media, generally in a daily press briefing. The information includes items such as a summary of the President's schedule for the day, whom the president has seen, or had communication and the official position of the administration on the news of the day. As of January 2009(?), the position pays approximately US$170,000 per year.^{[citation needed]}

The Press Secretary traditionally also fields questions from the White House press corps in briefings and press conferences, which are generally televised, and "press gaggles", which are on-the-record briefings without video recording, although transcripts are usually made available.

The position has often been filled by individuals from news-media backgrounds:

• Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Stephen Early, a reporter for United Press International and correspondent for The Associated Press.
• Harry S. Truman appointed Jonathan W. Daniels, a newspaper man who was in the Franklin Roosevelt administration in multiple agencies and on various boards just prior to becoming Press Secretary; Charles Griffith Ross, a newspaper man who received the Pulitzer Prize in 1932; Early; Joseph Short, a newspaper man; and Roger Tubby, a reporter and editor turned Democratic National Committee spokesman before becoming White House Press Secretary.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed James C. Hagerty, a reporter for The New York Times.
• John F. Kennedy appointed Pierre Salinger, a reporter and editor.
• Lyndon B. Johnson appointed George Christian, a reporter for International News Service.
• Gerald Ford appointed Jerald terHorst, a newspaper veteran; and Ron Nessen, an NBC News correspondent.
• Ronald Reagan appointed Larry Speakes, a newspaper man; and Marlin Fitzwater, a newspaper man.
• George H.W. Bush retained Fitzwater.
• George W. Bush appointed Tony Snow,a Fox News anchor who also had extensive experience in print and radio journalism.

List of Press Secretaries

References

External links

• whitehouse.gov/news/briefings, the Briefing Room at the White House official website (accessed September 15, 2009)
• georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/briefings/, George W. Bush administration Press Briefings (by date) hosted at the National Archives and Records Administration official website (accessed September 15, 2009)
• clintonpresidentialcenter.org/archives/, Clinton administration archives portal page at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center (accessed September 15, 2009)
• whitehousepresscorps.org, an unofficial website including a blog of the White House press corps (disclosure at bottom of home page: "not associated with the White House Correspondents' Association or its members in any way...an independent media watchdog source providing information and commentary on the relationship between the press and the White House") (accessed September 15, 2009)

v • d • e White House Press Secretaries Akerson • Joslin • Early • Reinsch • Daniels • Ross • Early • Short • Tubby • Hagerty • Salinger • Reedy • Moyers • Christian • Ziegler • terHorst • Nessen • Powell • Brady • Speakes • Fitzwater • Myers • McCurry • Lockhart • Siewert • Fleischer • McClellan • Snow • Perino • Gibbs

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