White House Press Secretary

The White House Press Secretary is a job at the White House. Press secretaries act as the primary spokesperson for the United States Government and the President, senior executives, and policies. Karoline Leavitt is the current White House Press Secretary.

White House Press Secretary
150px Logo of the White House.
File:Official portrait of Karoline Leavitt, 2025 (cropped 2).jpg Incumbent Karoline Leavitt since January 20, 2025
White House Office of the Press Secretary
Appointer	President of the United States
Formation	March 4, 1929 (1929-03-04)
First holder	George Akerson
Salary	$180,000 USD (2024)
Website	https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/

List of Press Secretaries

Year(s)	Press Secretary	President
1929–1931	George Edward Akerson	Herbert Hoover
1931–1933	Theodore Goldsmith Joslin
1933–1945	Stephen Early	Franklin Delano Roosevelt
1945	Jonathan W. Daniels	Harry S. Truman
1945–1950	Charlie Ross
1950	Stephen Early
1950–1952	Joseph Short
1952–1953	Roger Tubby
1953–1961	James Hagerty	Dwight D. Eisenhower
1961–1964	Pierre Salinger	John F. Kennedy
		Lyndon B. Johnson
1964–1965	George Reedy
1965–1966	Bill Moyers
1966–1969	George Christian
1969–1974	Ron Ziegler	Richard Nixon
1974	Jerald terHorst	Gerald Ford
1974–1977	Ron Nessen
1977–1981	Jody Powell	Jimmy Carter
1981–1989	James Brady1	Ronald Reagan
1981–1987	Larry Speakes2
1987–1989	Marlin Fitzwater2
1989–1993	Marlin Fitzwater	George H.W. Bush
1993–1994	Dee Dee Myers3	Bill Clinton
1993	George Stephanopoulos4
1994–1998	Mike McCurry
1998–2000	Joe Lockhart
2000–2001	Jake Siewert
2001–2003	Ari Fleischer	George W. Bush
2003–2006	Scott McClellan
2006–2007	Tony Snow
2007–2009	Dana Perino
2009–2011	Robert Gibbs	Barack Obama
2011–2014	Jay Carney
2014–2017	Josh Earnest
2017	Sean Spicer	Donald Trump
2017–2019	Sarah Sanders
2019–2020	Stephanie Grisham
2020–2021	Kayleigh McEnany
2021–2022	Jen Psaki	Joe Biden
2022–2025	Karine Jean-Pierre
2025–present	Karoline Leavitt	Donald Trump

¹ Did not brief the press after being wounded in the Reagan assassination attempt.

² De facto Press Secretary (as White House Deputy Press Secretary).

³ Did not brief the press while Stephanopoulos was Communications Director. First female Press Secretary.

⁴ De facto Press Secretary (as White House Communications Director).

White House Press Secretary Media

• 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.

• Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaks to reporters outside the White House in 2019

• George Akerson, White House Press Secretary for Herbert Hoover (in office 1929–30).

• Ted Joslin, White House Press Secretary for Herbert Hoover (in office 1931–33).

• Portrait of Stephen T. Early

• Author and editor Jonathan Worth Daniels as a student at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

• American journalist and White House Press Secretary Charles Griffith Ross (1885-1950)

• Portrait of Stephen T. Early

• Joseph Short (Profile) on March 15, 1951 at President Truman’s vacation residence in Key West, Florida with Press Secretary Joseph Short... - NARA - 200561 (cropped)

• RogerTubby

Other websites

• Briefing Room Archived 2021-04-27 at the Wayback Machine at the official White House website
• George W. Bush Administration Press Briefings at the National Archives and Records Administration's archive of the official White House website
• Clinton administration archives Archived 2009-07-08 at the Wayback Machine at the William J. Clinton Presidential Center