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

Politico
What Trump’s speechwriting team can learn from Clinton’s 1998 scandal
Women Rule spoke to four former presidential speechwriters – including Mary Kate Cary of the George H.W. Bush White House, Vinca LaFleur of the Clinton White House and Sarada Peri of the Obama White House – about their experiences writing the addresses, their advice for Trump’s speechwriting team and why there are so few women at the highest levels of the profession.
Mary Kate Cary POLITICO
SF Chronicle
Trump sticking to economic script in his first State of the Union address
Trump must sell the plan Tuesday not only to his skeptical base — the conservative Breitbart News mocked him as “Amnesty Don” for offering a pathway to the Dreamers — but to dubious Democrats, who find the rest of the plan unpalatable. Directly selling a top legislative priority like this to voters is “something he didn’t do when Republicans were trying to repeal and replace Obamacare,” said Mary Kate Cary, a speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush. “He’s got to use the bully pulpit.”
Mary Kate Cary San Francisco Chronicle
first year project logo
Donald Trump at one year
On January 18, 2018, Miller Center presidential scholars and veteran White House practitioners came together to animate the work of our First Year Project through discussions on national security, domestic policy, management of the federal government, White House communications, and legislative affairs.
Natalie Russell
Politico
Whose Fault Is the Shutdown?
Moments like this explain why public approval ratings of Congress continue to be nearly as bad as those of used car salesmen. While there is plenty of blame to go around on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, it’s pretty clear to most voters that it is the job of Congress to fund the government.
Mary Kate Cary POLITICO
Bipodisan
It’s Time to Give Civility a Chance
Since the 2016 election, there have been more than 1,600 political podcasts launched in the United States. Almost all of them feature Democrats talking to Democrats and Republicans talking with Republicans. Isn’t it time for a podcast in which the other side talks back? In this premiere episode of “Bipodisan,” co-hosts and fellow former White House speechwriters Paul Orzulak (D) and Mary Kate Cary (R) discuss why they believe it’s time for a podcast in which opposites respectfully talk, not shout, about the issues dividing America – and how they intend to change each other’s mind (and yours).
Mary Kate Cary Bipodisan
NPR
Trump's latest vulgar comments cast shadow over legislative agenda
"I was disappointed that more Republicans didn't denounce the vulgar language right off the top because I think you could still have a rational discussion about changing immigration law and denounce that language. And so the silence was very disappointing to me. I wish McConnell and some of the other senators had come forward and really shut it down."
Mary Kate Cary NPR's All Things Considered