News Release

Photo note:  For a photo of Gergen, see end of release.

CHAPEL HILL -- David Gergen, a leading political analyst and former adviser to four U.S. presidents, will discuss presidential leadership on March 3 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

His lecture, "Eyewitness to Power: Leadership in America," is set for 7 p.m. in Hill Hall auditorium.

As a longtime Washington, D.C., journalist and former adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, Gergen offers an insider’s perspective on presidential strengths and pitfalls from Watergate to Whitewater.

The presentation is free to the public. Limited parking is available in the Swain lot on Cameron Avenue, which may be accessible only from South Columbia Street due to construction. Parking also is available in the commercial lot on Rosemary Street.

Gergen, who also will speak to an undergraduate class on American government, will be at UNC as the Frey Foundation distinguished visiting professor in the College of Arts and Sciences. The professorship was established in 1989 to bring to campus distinguished leaders from a variety of fields including government, public policy and the arts. Edward J. and Frances Frey of Grand Rapids, Mich., established the foundation in 1974. Their son, UNC alumnus David Gardner Frey (BA ’64, JD ’67), is the foundation’s chairman.

A Durham native, Gergen graduated from Yale University and Harvard Law School. He worked for the Nixon administration from 1971 to 1974, serving as a special assistant to the president from 1973 to 1974. After Nixon resigned, Gergen became special counsel to Ford, and, eventually, director of communications for Reagan.

From 1984 to 1993, Gergen worked primarily as a Washington, D.C., journalist. For two-and-a-half years he was editor of U.S. News and World Report, helping to guide the magazine to record gains in circulation and advertising. He also teamed up with Mark Shields for weekly political commentary on the "MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour."

In 1993, Clinton surprised Gergen and the political world when he recruited the veteran of GOP administrations to join the Democratic White House as a special counselor to the president and the secretary of state.

Today, Gergen is a leading political analyst on national television, editor-at-large at U.S. News and professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

He is author of the book "Eyewitness to Power: The Essence of Leadership, Nixon to Clinton."

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Photo note: For a photo of Gergen, click on http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/lecture/gergen_david.jpg

College of Arts and Sciences contact: Dee Reid, (919) 843-6339 or deereid@unc.edu