Michael Gerson

Former Senior Fellow


Washington Post, Opinion Writer; Former Assistant to the President for Policy and Strategic Planning (G.W. Bush Administration)

Michael J. Gerson is senior advisor to the ONE Campaign and a nationally syndicated columnist who appears twice weekly in the Washington Post and in nearly 100 other newspapers. Gerson is the author of Heroic Conservatism (HarperOne, 2007) and co-author of City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era (Moody, 2010). He serves on the Initiative for Global Development Leadership Council, and the boards of the U.S. Center for Global Leadership, The News Literacy Project and the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. He is the 2015 Pamela and Jack Egan Visiting Professor at Duke University. He appears regularly on the PBS NewsHour, Face the Nation and other programs. Until 2006, Gerson was a top aide to President George W. Bush as Assistant to the President for Policy and Strategic Planning. He was a key administration advocate for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), the fight against global sex trafficking, and funding for women’s justice and empowerment issues. Prior to that appointment, he served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Speechwriting and Assistant to the President for Speechwriting and Policy Advisor.

Gerson joined Bush’s presidential campaign in early 1999 as chief speechwriter and a senior policy adviser. He was previously a Senior Editor covering politics at U.S. News and World Report. Gerson was a speechwriter and policy adviser for Jack Kemp and a speechwriter for Bob Dole during the 1996 presidential campaign. He has also served Senator Dan Coats of Indiana as Policy Director. Gerson is a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois.


The latest from Michael Gerson:

“‘America First’ shouldn’t mean cutting foreign aid,” Washington Post, Michael Gerson and Raj Shah, February 24, 2017 – (printable version)

“This is how the U.S. must lead the fight against Zika,” Washington Post, Michael Gerson and Raj Shah, July 18, 2016 – (printable version

“What Do We Mean By Results-Based Development?” Center for Global Development, Michael Gerson and Raj Shah, February 16, 2016  (podcast)

“Michael Gerson on Transforming Foreign Assistance With Evidence,” ONE Campaign, Michael Gerson, January 5, 2016 – (printable version)

“Taming big government by proxy,” Washington Post, Michael Gerson, February 16, 2015 – (printable version)