The President’s Voice: How David Gergen Shaped the Message

Aug 14

David Gergen, a former White House staffer in the Ford administration who also served in the Nixon, Reagan, and Clinton administrations, was a smooth communicator. In the 1990s, his communication skills were compared to a popular cosmetic.

Jergens Lotion is a famous moisturizer for women. In D.C., “Gergen’s Lotion” was a term applied to David Gergen’s ability to smooth over a tricky political situation. His smooth communication skills helped with difficult jobs from the 1970s to the 1990s.

In his memoir “Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford,” the president wrote that David Gergen, then 33 years old, was a “talented writer.” It was an accurate comment about Gergen’s ability to manage difficult situations.

In two books, Gergen wrote about President Ford. In “Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership from Nixon to Clinton, published in 2000, he wrote:

“[W]ith the passage of time, Jerry Ford looks better and better. Recognition is spreading that the character and quality of his leadership more closely fit the needs of the country than was seen when he held office. He was a healer in a full sense. As we have lived through scandals since, especially during the Clinton era, Ford’s honesty also reminds us of what we want our leaders to be.”

Gergen expressed regret that he had not fully appreciated Ford’s leadership while working for him. “[I]n retrospect,” Gergen recalled, “most of us inside [The White House] did not take the full measure of the man [Ford], either. We should have. I wish I had.”

“Ford reaffirmed the importance of honesty among our elected leaders,” Gergen wrote. “Emotionally, he [Ford] was the healthiest president we have had since Eisenhower and Truman.” Gergen added: “He knew who he was, was at peace with life, and liked people. He trusted the public, Congress, and the press, and they in turn largely trusted him.”

Gergen’s observation that Ford was a healthy president who “knew who he was” and “was at peace with life” explains how Ford remained calm during a chaotic period in U.S. history. In his news conferences and press interviews, Ford demonstrated that he “knew who he was.”

In his 2023 book “Hearts Touched by Fire: How Great Leaders Are Made,” Gergen said: “I worked for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and can attest that while both had courage, their characters were vastly different. One lacked character and was driven out [of the presidency] by scandal; the other was a man of character who looks better and better through the rearview mirror [of history].”

Speaking at the 26th annual Ford Presidential Prize for Reporting on the Presidency in 2012, Gergen, then an analyst with CNN, said he began his government communications career in the Nixon administration with Watergate and ended his career in the Clinton administration during the Whitewater investigation, a scandal over the Clinton’s real estate investments in Arkansas. Through these scandals, Gergen’s communication skills were tested.

In his speech, Gergen explained the essence of a successful communicator, whether in politics or business. He advised that when an issue becomes controversial, a timely and accurate response is a sign of leadership. He said it was essential to get your story out, but first, you have to get your story straight.

Gergen was not without his critics. In 1993, The Washingtonian Magazine published its list of The 25 Most Annoying People in Washington. Gergen made the list. Why?

“He’s cuddly,” the Washingtonian explained, “and leopards change their spots, but to go from an apostle of Reaganism to an apologist for Clintonism in less time than it takes [Dart Drugs CEO] Herbert Haft to spray his hair is testimony to Washington’s abiding opportunism.” Haft (1920-2004) was a multimillionaire businessman in the Washington, D.C. area. He had a famously great head of hair.

Gergen advised the 1980 presidential campaign of George H.W. Bush. As the Bush campaign faltered, Gergen moved to the Reagan campaign.

In the 1980 presidential campaign debate between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, Gergen, among others in the Reagan camp, drafted a short statement for Reagan to use for his closing remarks. As Gergen recalled in “Eyewitness to Power,” Reagan campaign strategist Dick Wirthlin told him that Reagan’s use of rhetorical questions was a “powerful weapon with audiences.”

Wirthlin and Gergen produced a draft statement that included a question that Reagan had been using during the presidential campaign. In the final moments of his debate against Jimmy Carter, Reagan said to voters: “Ask yourself, are you better off today than you were four years ago?”

“The line was withering because it captured the essence of the campaign against Carter,” Gergen wrote. “Some thought that Reagan’s question clinched the election.”

In the Reagan administration, Gergen was the communications director. It was the job he liked best. Gergen held this post longer than any other White House job. Gergen left the Reagan White House before the Iran-Contra scandal.

Reagan had a reputation as a smooth communicator. In “Eyewitness to Power,” Gergen described Reagan’s voice as “honeyed.” He said the president’s voice was “gentle and pleasant.” Perhaps “Gergen’s Lotion” was inspired by Reagan’s soft, gentle “honeyed” voice.

In September 1993, Gergen spoke to the National Conference of Editorial Writers in Philadelphia about his new boss, President Bill Clinton. He described his forthcoming work in the Clinton White House. The 1994 Clinton would be “squarer, a little less experimental and a lot more pragmatic, with tighter steering and fewer gears.” One columnist said Clinton was to be “Gergenized.”

In December 1994, during the Whitewater investigation, Gergen left Clinton. Gergen’s job was to inject character into the president. One columnist said: “[N]ot all the Gergen’s Lotion in the world can bring out what ain’t there.”

Gergen chose a great time to leave Clinton’s company. In August 1994, Kenneth Starr took over the Whitewater investigation that revealed, in 1995, Clinton’s Oval Office affair with Monica Lewinsky.

David Gergen, who became a political independent in 2017, was a clever and skilled communications professional. Unlike the 1993 editors at the Washingtonian, I never considered Gergen “annoying.” He was a Washington “insider.”

Gergen was effective in messaging and controlling the misinformation that has plagued Washington since Watergate. He worked to get his stories straight before responding to the press. Whether you considered David Gergen annoying or masterful, he influenced four presidents. And, they influenced him. Gergen, age 83, died in July 2025.