Joseph Patrick "Joe" Lockhart (born July 13, 1959) is a spokesman and communications consultant, best known for being the 21st
White House Press Secretary from October 5, 1998 to September 29, 2000, during the
administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton. Previously, he had worked as press secretary for several Democratic politicians, including
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...
,
Paul Simon, and
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis (; born November 3, 1933) is an American retired lawyer and politician who served as governor of Massachusetts from 1975 to 1979 and again from 1983 to 1991. He is the longest-serving governor in Massachusetts history a ...
. Following his work as press secretary in the Clinton administration, he was an advisor to
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party, he ...
during his
2004 presidential campaign. He subsequently founded and became managing director of the communications consulting firm
The Glover Park Group, worked for
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
from 2011 to 2012, and was executive vice president of communications and public affairs for the
NFL from 2016 to 2018.
Early life and career
Born in
The Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
,
Lockhart is the son of Ann Teahan and Raymond Lockhart, a longtime NBC producer associated with ''
The Huntley–Brinkley Report
''The Huntley–Brinkley Report'' (sometimes known as ''The Texaco Huntley–Brinkley Report'' for one of its early sponsors) was an American evening news program that aired on NBC from October 29, 1956, to July 31, 1970. It was anchored by Chet ...
'' and special-events coverage. He grew up in
Suffern, New York
Suffern is a village that was incorporated in 1796 in the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. Suffern is located 31 miles northwest of Manhattan. As of the 2010 census, Suffern's population was 10,723.[Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...]
's presidential reelection campaign.
He was
press secretary
A press secretary or press officer is a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal with the news media and, using news management techniques, helps their employer to maintain a positive public image and avoid negative media coverage.
Dut ...
for the
1984 presidential campaign of
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale (January 5, 1928 – April 19, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 42nd vice president of the United States from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. A U.S. senator from Minnesota ...
, then worked for
Paul Simon in the Senate. Stints with
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
and
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
followed, then the
Michael Dukakis campaign. He moved to Robinson, Lake, Lerer & Montgomery with
Mike McCurry, then back to ABC when they hired his (former) wife and colleague from the Mondale campaign, Laura Logan.
Another stint with NBC covering the
Romanian Revolution
The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred ...
in 1989 preceded his first on-air job with
Sky News reporting on the
Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
and then business. Private practice with Robinson, Lake followed, where he handled publicity for the
Al Nahayan family during parts of the
BCCI
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the national governing body for cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at Cricket centre, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. The BCCI is the richest governing body of cricket in the worl ...
scandal.
Clinton presidential campaign and the White House
At a time when Lockhart was considering working for
AOL,
Mike McCurry recruited Lockhart back into politics, and he joined the
1996 Clinton re-election campaign.
He served as the campaign spokesman and, following President Clinton's successful reelection, as Deputy Press Secretary to McCurry. After standing in for him on occasion to brief the press, Lockhart eventually succeeded McCurry and delivered his first briefing as Press Secretary on October 5, 1998.
Lockhart handled the press during
Clinton's impeachment and the
2000 Camp David Summit.
After the White House
Lockhart was brought on to the John Kerry presidential campaign as a senior advisor in September 2004.
On September 8, 2004, CBS News aired a
controversial report on presidential candidate George W. Bush's military record. The authenticity of the
Killian documents
The Killian documents controversy (also referred to as Memogate or Rathergate) involved six documents containing false allegations about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard in 1972–73, allegedly typed in 1973. D ...
used in that report are under scrutiny. In the course of the next few days, it was discovered that Joseph Lockhart, then senior advisor to presidential candidate John Kerry, had made a phone call to Texas National Guard officer,
Bill Burkett on September 4, 2004.
Lockhart stated later that an unnamed female CBS producer asked him to contact Burkett.
Lockhart has denied that the call with Burkett had anything to do with the National Guard issue.
Lockhart co-founded the consulting firm
The Glover Park Group, becoming its Managing Director.
In June 2011, he joined
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
as the head of the company's corporate, policy and international communications team. Not wanting to relocate to the company's headquarters in
Menlo Park, California
Menlo Park is a city at the eastern edge of San Mateo County within the San Francisco Bay Area of California in the United States. It is bordered by San Francisco Bay on the north and east; East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, and Stanford to the south ...
, he left the company in October 2012.
On February 15, 2016, Lockhart was introduced as the new executive vice president of communications and top public relations official for the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
; he left the job after the
2018 Super Bowl
Super Bowl LII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2017 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles defeated the American Football Conferen ...
to spend time with his family.
Personal life
Lockhart was previously married to Laura Logan, Deputy Press Secretary for
John Glenn's 1984 presidential run and a longtime ABC News producer.
In 2013, Lockhart married Giovanna Gray.
In 2016, it was announced that
President Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
and his family planned to rent Lockhart's
Kalorama home after he left office. It was later revealed that the Obamas purchased the house from the Lockharts in May 2017, saying that it made sense to own the property since they would remain in Washington D.C. for at least two more years.
References
Sources
Joe Lockhart – The Glover Park Group
External links
BBC HARDtalk interview, October 6, 2006Stories told by Joe Lockhart atThe Moth
The Moth is a non-profit group based in New York City dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Founded in 1997, the organization presents a wide range of theme-based storytelling events across the United States and abroad, often featuring ...
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockhart, Joe
1959 births
Clinton administration personnel
Communications consultants
Facebook employees
Georgetown University alumni
Living people
New York (state) Democrats
People from Suffern, New York
People from the Bronx
White House Press Secretaries
People from Kalorama (Washington, D.C.)