page_title: Larry Speakes
section_title: Work in the White House
hierarchical_section_title: Larry Speakes / Early career / Work in the White House
caption_attribution_description: English: Larry Speakes
context_page_description: Larry Melvin Speakes was the acting White House Press Secretary for the White House under President Ronald Reagan, having held the position from 1981 to 1987.
context_section_description: The White House tapped Speakes in 1974 as a Staff Assistant and soon became the Press Secretary to the Special Counsel to the President at the height of the Watergate scandal.  Upon Nixon's resignation, President Ford appointed Speakes to be Assistant Press Secretary to the President.  Speakes served as Bob Dole's press secretary during his unsuccessful vice-presidential run with Ford.
  After briefly serving as President Ford's personal press secretary in 1977, Speakes ventured into the private sector as vice president of the international public relations firm of Hill & Knowlton until 1981.  After the 1980 presidential campaign, he worked on the staff of the Reagan-Bush team, helping to "straighten out" the press operation, eventually becoming deputy spokesman for the President-elect during the transition.  Before the 1988 presidential election, Speakes had considered working for the campaigns of George H. W. Bush, Jack Kemp, and Alexander Haig; however, Bush's people never got back to him, Speakes decided that Kemp was "too hot" (meaning too quick with an answer) for television, and was advised by another Washington insider, "You can do that [join the Haig team] if you want to, but let me tell you one thing: Al Haig ain't going to be President."
caption: Speakes in 1976
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