WThe White House press secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, especially with regard to the president, senior aides and executives, as well as government policies.
WGeorge Edward Akerson was an American journalist and the first official White House Press Secretary.
WJames Scott Brady was an assistant to the U.S. President and the seventeenth White House Press Secretary, serving under President Ronald Reagan. In 1981, Brady became permanently disabled from a gunshot wound during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. Brady's death in 2014 was eventually ruled a homicide, caused by the gunshot wound he received 33 years earlier.
WJames Ferguson Carney is a former White House press secretary to President Barack Obama. He served as the 28th press secretary from February 2011 through June 2014. For the first two years of Obama's presidency, Carney was director of communications for Vice President Joe Biden. Prior to his government service, Carney worked for 20 years at Time Magazine, and was the magazine's Washington bureau chief from 2005 to 2008. As a Washington-based reporter, Carney appeared frequently on various political talk shows, including This Week with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News.
WGeorge Eastland Christian Jr. was an American journalist and White House staffer, who served as the twelfth White House Press Secretary from 1966 to 1969.
WStephen Tyree Early was a U.S. journalist and government official. He served as the third White House Press Secretary under Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933 to 1945 and as the acting Press Secretary under President Harry S. Truman in 1950 after the sudden death of Charles Griffith Ross. Early served as press secretary longer than any other person.
WJoshua Ryan Henry Earnest is an American political advisor who served as the 29th White House press secretary under President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017. He succeeded Jay Carney as Obama's press secretary, in 2014, and was succeeded by President Donald Trump's first presidential press secretary, Sean Spicer. He currently serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for United Airlines.
WMax Marlin Fitzwater is an American writer-journalist who served as White House Press Secretary for six years under U.S. Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, making him one of the longest-serving press secretaries in history. He is the only U.S. Press Secretary to be appointed by two different U.S. Presidents.
WLawrence Ari Fleischer is an American media consultant and political aide who served as the 23rd White House Press Secretary, for President George W. Bush, from January 2001 to July 2003.
WRobert Lane Gibbs is an American communication professional who served as executive vice president and global chief communications officer of McDonald's from 2015 to 2019 and as the 27th White House Press Secretary from 2009 to 2011.
WStephanie Ann Grisham is an American former White House official who served as the 32nd White House press secretary and as White House communications director from July 2019 to April 2020. She served as Chief of Staff and Press Secretary for the first lady of the United States, Melania Trump from 2020 to 2021, and previously as her Press Secretary from 2017 to 2019.
WJames Campbell Hagerty served as the eighth White House Press Secretary from 1953 to 1961 during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was known for providing much more detail on the lifestyle of the president than previous press secretaries; for example, he covered in great detail Eisenhower's medical condition. Most of the time, he handled routine affairs such as daily reports on presidential activities, defending presidential policies, and assisting diplomatic visitors. He handled embarrassing episodes, such as those related to the Soviet downing of an American spy plane, the U-2 in 1960. He handled press relations on Eisenhower's international trips, sometimes taking the blame from a hostile foreign press. Eisenhower often relied upon him for advice about public opinion, and how to phrase complex issues. Hagerty had a reputation for supporting civil rights initiatives. He is the only press secretary to have served for two full presidential terms.
WAndrew Hatcher was an associate press secretary to President John F. Kennedy and a founder of 100 Black Men of America in 1963.
WTheodore Goldsmith "Ted" Joslin was the second White House Press Secretary under President Herbert Hoover from 1931 until 1933.
WMalcolm MacGregor "Mac" Kilduff Jr. was an American journalist, best known for making the public announcement of the death of U.S. President John F. Kennedy.
WJoseph Patrick "Joe" Lockhart is a spokesman and communications consultant, best known for being the 21st White House Press Secretary from October 5, 1998 to September 29, 2000, during the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton. Previously, he had worked as press secretary for several Democratic politicians, including Walter Mondale, Paul Simon, and Michael Dukakis. Following his work as press secretary in the Clinton administration, he was an advisor to John Kerry during his 2004 presidential campaign. He subsequently founded and became managing director of the communications consulting firm Glover Park Group, worked for Facebook from 2011 to 2012, and was executive vice president of communications and public affairs for the NFL from 2016 to 2018.
WScott McClellan is the former White House Press Secretary (2003–06) for President George W. Bush, he was the 24th person to hold this post. He was also the author of a controversial No. 1 New York Times bestseller about the Bush Administration titled What Happened. He replaced Ari Fleischer as press secretary in July 2003 and served until May 10, 2006. McClellan was the longest serving press secretary under George W. Bush.
WMichael Demaree McCurry is best known for having served in Bill Clinton's administration as the nation's 20th White House Press Secretary. He is a Washington-based communications consultant and is associated with the firm Public Strategies Washington, Inc. He is also active within the administration of the United Methodist Church, serving as a lay delegate to the Church General Conference and on various denominational boards. He currently co-chairs the Commission on Presidential Debates. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he was educated at Princeton University and Georgetown University.
WKayleigh McEnany is an American conservative political commentator and author who served as the 33rd White House press secretary for the Trump administration from April 2020 to January 2021. She currently serves as an on-air contributor for Fox News.
WBilly Don Moyers is an American journalist and political commentator. He served as the ninth White House Press Secretary under the Johnson administration from 1965 to 1967. He was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, from 1967-1974. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for ten years. Moyers has been extensively involved with public broadcasting, producing documentaries and news journal programs. He has won numerous awards and honorary degrees for his investigative journalism and civic activities. He has become well known as a trenchant critic of the corporately structured U.S. news media.
WMargaret Jane "Dee Dee" Myers is an American political analyst who served as the 19th White House Press Secretary during the first two years of the Clinton administration. She was the first woman and the second-youngest person to hold that position. Myers later co-hosted the news program Equal Time on CNBC, and was a consultant on The West Wing. She was the inspiration for fictional White House Press Secretary C. J. Cregg. She is also the author of the 2008 New York Times best-selling book, Why Women Should Rule the World. In 2020, she joined the Gavin Newsom administration as Senior Advisor to the Governor and Director of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
WRonald Harold Nessen is an American government official who served as the 15th White House Press Secretary for President Gerald Ford from 1974 to 1977. He replaced Jerald terHorst, who resigned in the wake of President Ford's pardon of former president Richard Nixon.
WDana Marie Perino is an American political commentator and author who served as the 26th White House Press Secretary, under President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007, to January 20, 2009. She was the second female White House Press Secretary, after Dee Dee Myers, who served during the Clinton Administration. She is currently a political commentator for Fox News, while also serving as a co-host of the network's talk show The Five, and is a book publishing executive at Random House. On October 2, 2017, she began hosting The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino on Fox News. In early 2021, Perino left The Daily Briefing to co-anchor America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer.
WJoseph Lester "Jody" Powell, Jr. was an American political advisor who served as a White House press secretary during the presidency of Jimmy Carter. Powell later co-founded a public relations firm.
WJennifer Rene Psaki is an American political advisor serving as the 34th and current White House press secretary. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the Obama administration as the White House deputy press secretary (2009); the White House deputy communications director (2009–2011); the spokesperson for the United States Department of State (2013–2015); and the White House communications director (2015–2017). Psaki was a political contributor for CNN from 2017 to 2020.
WCharles Griffith Ross was White House Press Secretary between 1945 and 1950 for President Harry S. Truman.
WPierre Emil George Salinger was an American journalist, author and politician. He served as the ninth press secretary for United States Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Salinger served as a United States Senator in 1964 and as campaign manager for the 1968 Robert F. Kennedy presidential campaign.
WSarah Elizabeth Sanders, commonly known as Sarah Huckabee Sanders, is an American political analyst and politician. She was the 31st White House press secretary, serving under President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2019. She was the third woman to serve in that position. Sanders previously worked on the election campaigns of her father, Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, and later served as a senior advisor on Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Sanders is a candidate in the 2022 Arkansas gubernatorial election.
WJoseph Hudson Short, Jr. was the fourth White House Press Secretary from 1950 to 1952 and served under President Harry S. Truman. Previously, he had worked as Washington correspondent for various media.
WRichard L. "Jake" Siewert Jr. is an American political advisor serving as the head of corporate communications for investment bank Goldman Sachs. He served as the 22nd White House Press Secretary and the last of the Clinton administration and later in the Treasury department during the Obama Administration.
WRobert Anthony Snow was an American journalist, political commentator, television news anchor, syndicated columnist, radio host, musician, and the 25th White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush, from May 2006 until his resignation in September 2007. Snow also worked for the President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and Deputy Assistant of Media Affairs, from 1991 to 1993. Between his two White House stints, Snow was a broadcaster and newspaper columnist. After years of regular guest-hosting for The Rush Limbaugh Show and providing news commentary for National Public Radio, he launched his own talk radio program, The Tony Snow Show, which went on to become nationally syndicated. He was also a regular personality on Fox News Channel beginning in 1996, hosting Fox News Sunday and Weekend Live, and often substituting as host of The O'Reilly Factor. In April 2008, Snow briefly joined CNN as a commentator. He also made several notable speeches, including keynote addresses at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2007 and 2008. In his journalistic and governmental capacities, Snow generally supported conservative causes. Snow died of colon cancer on July 12, 2008.
WLarry Melvin Speakes was the acting White House Press Secretary for the White House under President Ronald Reagan, having held the position from 1981 to 1987.
WSean Michael Spicer is a former American political aide who served as the 30th White House Press Secretary and as White House Communications Director under President Donald Trump in 2017. Spicer was communications director of the Republican National Committee from 2011 to 2017, and its chief strategist from 2015 to 2017.
WJerald Franklin "Jerry" terHorst was an American journalist who served as the 14th White House Press Secretary during the first month of Gerald Ford's presidency. His resignation in protest of Ford's unconditional pardon of former president Richard Nixon is still regarded as a rare act of conscience by a high-ranking public official.
WRoger Wellington Tubby was the seventh White House Press Secretary from 1952 to 1953 and served under President Harry Truman. From 1945 to 1948, he served as the spokesperson of the United States Department of State.
WRonald Louis Ziegler was the 13th White House Press Secretary and Assistant to the President, serving during United States President Richard Nixon's administration.