In a city where loyalty to party often trumps loyalty to principle, David Gergen was a rare creature: a political sage who advised four U.S. presidents, three Republicans and one Democrat, without ever losing his compass. Gergen, who died on July 10 at age 83, was not just a White House insider but also a bridge between eras and a calm voice in the storm of Washington’s partisan squalls. His career, spanning decades in government, media, and academia, was a masterclass in navigating power with grace, wit, and a stubborn belief in the public good.
Born on May 9, 1942, in Durham, North Carolina, Gergen grew up with a soft southern drawl and a sharp mind. His early years hinted at the polymath he’d become: managing editor of the Yale Daily News, a law degree from Harvard University, and a stint in the U.S. Navy stationed in Japan. Politics tugged at him early. As a young man, he interned for former Democratic North Carolina Gov. Terry Sanford. Yet, by 1971, he found himself in the Nixon White House as a 29-year-old speechwriting assistant thrown into the deep end of American power. The Watergate scandal tested his idealism — “It hardened me up a lot,” he later told the Washington Post — but it didn’t break him. Instead, it forged a resilience that would define his career.
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Gergen’s knack for words and strategy made him indispensable. By 1973, he was former President Richard Nixon’s director of speechwriting, crafting messages to steady a nation reeling from scandal. When former President Gerald Ford inherited the White House, Gergen stayed on as director of communications, tasked with restoring trust after Watergate. He helped Ford project a steady, unflashy competence, a mission that suited Gergen’s own understated style. In 1981, he joined former President Ronald Reagan’s team, again as communications director, where his gift for distilling complex ideas into memorable lines shone. It was Gergen who penned the question Reagan asked in a 1980 debate against former President Jimmy Carter: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” The line, simple yet devastating, tapped into a nation’s discontent and helped propel Reagan to victory. “Rhetorical questions have great power,” Gergen later reflected, likening it to striking gold in a riverbed.
What set Gergen apart was his ability to cross party lines without losing credibility. In 1993, former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat struggling with early missteps, tapped Gergen as a counselor. The move raised eyebrows — Gergen’s Republican résumé was long — but his friendship with Clinton, forged at a 1984 Renaissance Weekend in South Carolina, smoothed the way. Gergen saw Clinton’s potential but also his flaws. “He was terribly out of position,” Gergen told PBS, noting Clinton’s initial lurch to the left. Gergen’s role was to recenter Clinton, helping him rediscover his centrist roots. Though Gergen’s time in the Clinton White House was brief, it cemented his reputation as a political fix-it man, a trusted hand who could steady a listing ship.
Outside the White House, Gergen’s second act was just as illustrious. He transitioned to journalism in 1984, joining PBS’s MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour as a commentator, where his sparring with liberal Mark Shields became must-watch TV for political junkies. Later, as editor-at-large of U.S. News & World Report, he brought his insider’s eye to the page. His longest media run was at CNN, where he served as a senior political analyst, offering measured takes on everything from elections to impeachments. Colleagues praised his ability to cut through noise with context and clarity. “He could draw on history and apply it to current circumstances,” said Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia. Gergen’s calm, professorial demeanor made him a standout in an era of shouting pundits.
At Harvard’s Kennedy School, Gergen found his true calling as an educator. As founding director of the Center for Public Leadership, he mentored generations of students, urging them to embrace public service over cynicism. His 2000 bestseller, Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton, distilled lessons from his White House years, arguing that great leaders need “inner mastery” and a “passion that inspires.” His 2022 book, Hearts Touched with Fire, reinforced that theme, calling for courageous leadership in turbulent times.
Gergen’s ability to connect was legendary — whether schmoozing at elite retreats or mentoring students, he had a knack for making people feel heard. Al Gore, Clinton’s vice president, summed it up on X: “His kindness to everyone he worked with, his sound judgment, and his devotion to doing good in the world.”
In a polarized age, Gergen’s centrism, or his belief that solutions trumped ideology, felt almost quaint. Yet he never wavered. “Centrism doesn’t mean splitting the difference,” he told the Boston Globe in 2020. “It’s about seeking solutions and bringing people along.” As Washington churns through another cycle of rancor, one can imagine Gergen, with a wry smile, asking us all: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” The question still stings, but so does the absence of his steady voice to help us answer it.
Daniel Ross Goodman is a Washington Examiner contributing writer and the author, most recently, of Soloveitchik’s Children: Irving Greenberg, David Hartman, Jonathan Sacks, and the Future of Jewish Theology in America.