Experts

Mary Kate Cary

Practitioner Senior Fellow

Fast Facts

  • Former speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush
  • Provides political commentary for NPR, CNN, Fox News Channel, and CTV (Canada)
  • Executive producer of 41ON41, a documentary about President George H.W. Bush
  • Expertise on presidential communications, speechwriting

Areas Of Expertise

  • Domestic Affairs
  • Media and the Press
  • Governance
  • Elections
  • Leadership
  • Politics
  • The Presidency

Mary Kate Cary, practitioner senior fellow, served as a White House speechwriter for President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to early 1992, authoring more than 100 of his presidential addresses. She also has ghostwritten several books related to President Bush’s life and career and served as senior writer for communications for the 1988 Bush-Quayle presidential campaign.

Currently an adjunct professor in the University of Virginia’s Department of Politics, Cary teaches classes on political speechwriting; the greatest American political speeches; and the 2020 presidential election. In her first year in the politics department, she was recognized by the UVA Student Council for excellence in teaching.

Cary currently chairs the advisory board of the George and Barbara Bush Foundation, where she has been a member since 2004. The Bush Foundation oversees the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum and the Bush School of Government & Public Service, with campuses at Texas A&M University and in Washington, D.C.. In 2014, she was the creator and executive producer of 41ON41, a documentary about President George H. W. Bush, which premiered internationally on CNN. She is also a producer of President in Waiting, a documentary about the modern vice presidency that features interviews with all of the living vice presidents, which debuted on CNN in December 2020.

Following her tenure at the White House, Cary served as spokesman and deputy director of policy and communications for U.S. Attorney General William Barr and deputy director of communications at the Republican National Committee under Chairman Haley Barbour. She also served as a long-time columnist at US News & World Report, writing on politics and the presidency.

Cary is currently a member of the Ronald Reagan Institute's Women in Civics Advisory Council; UVA's Darden School of Business Leadership Communication Council; and the national advisory board of The Network of Enlightened Women, which supports conservative female leaders on more than 50 college campuses. She is a long-time member of the Judson Welliver Society of former presidential speechwriters.

Mary Kate Cary News Feed

Bipodisan
The 41 We Knew
Mary Kate is joined by her old friend, former Bush 41 speechwriter Ed McNally, for some great stories about their time writing for President George H.W. Bush. Listen as they reminisce about their first meeting with the new President and what he had to say about President Reagan’s oratory. The two speechwriters tell behind-the-scenes stories about writing stand-up comedy for him, working with him in his post-presidential years, and receiving handwritten notes from him throughout it all. Plus the time the two of them met Mikhail Gorbachev in a bar.
Mary Kate Cary Bipodisan
Bipodisan
Outnumbered
Steve Krupin, a former Obama speechwriter, picks the best tributes from the memorial service for Mary Kate’s former boss, the late President George H.W. Bush. Then Steve sits down with Kirsten Hughes, the chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, and Ethan Corson, the executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party, to talk about what it’s like to be outnumbered in their states, how they won governor’s races anyway, and what those victories teach us about the truism that all politics is local.
Mary Kate Cary Bipodisan
TIME
Former George H.W. Bush Speechwriter on Why the President Was Shy About Talking About His World War II Service in Public
The more I wrote for him, the more I learned his style. He didn’t like to talk about himself much. If we used the word “I” too much he’d circle it, to mean “too many.” He felt that in a democracy the President should use the word “We.” That’s probably why he was generally extremely reticent to talk about his World War II experience.
Mary Kate Cary TIME
USA Today
George H.W. Bush was an 'American great' committed to unity, diversity and generosity
As with the sea that he loved so much, there was a wideness to the life of George Bush, who died Friday at 94. He was always broadening the circle, casting the net as far as he could to draw others into it. He loved to be with people, and they loved to be with him. It was always hard to leave him.
Mary Kate Cary USA Today
Bipodisan
Live from Montpelier, Part 2
Mary Kate continues her conversations on what Congress and the press can do to help end partisan gridlock — with former WH legislative affairs directors Dan Meyer (Bush 43) and Marc Short (Trump); former Democratic Congressman LF Payne; and Politico Playbook’s Daniel Lippman, and NPR’s Ron Elving. Plenty of real-life ideas for improving the atmosphere in DC — from campaign messaging for 2020, writing headlines and tweeting, setting the incoming Congress’s agenda, bringing back earmarks, even deciding where to eat lunch on Capitol Hill. Smart ideas from insiders who know.
Mary Kate Cary Bipodisan
Bipodisan
Live from Montpelier – Part I
In a Bipodisan two-fer, Mary Kate interviews VIPs interested in ending partisan gridlock at a Miller Center conference at the unexpectedly hip home of James Madison. Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin outlines the decline of political parties and rise of ideological “rock stars.” She argues that the loss of pay-as-you-go rules is driving polarization, and gives her prediction for the first bill to be introduced in the new Democratic House. Then UVA Professor Jennifer Lawless and Hoover Institution Fellow and Stanford Professor David Brady talk about surprising polling on whom you’d want your child to marry, and whether there’s room for a third party in America. The three discuss current ideas for reform: redistricting, ranked voting primaries, open primaries, and bringing back earmarks. Plus a favorite clip from SNL. Stay tuned for even more great ideas next week.
Mary Kate Cary Bipodisan