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The White House Office of Public Engagement is a unit of the
White House Office The White House Office is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The White House Office is headed by the White House chief of staff, who is also the head of the Executive Office of the President. The ...
within the
Executive Office of the President of the United States The Executive Office of the President (EOP) comprises the offices and agencies that support the work of the president at the center of the executive branch of the United States federal government. The EOP consists of several offices and agenc ...
. Under the administration of President
Barack 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 U ...
, it was called the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
restored the prior name of the White House Office of Public Liaison and separated the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs. President Joe Biden changed the name to the White House Office of Public Engagement but retained Trump's separate Intergovernmental Affairs Office in his
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...
. The current director of public engagement is former mayor of Atlanta,
Keisha Lance Bottoms Keisha Lance Bottoms (born January 18, 1970) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 60th mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, from 2018 to 2022. She was elected mayor in 2017. Before becoming mayor, she was a member of the Atlanta City C ...
, who assumed office in June 2022.


History

The Office of Public Liaison has been responsible for communicating and interacting with various interest groups. Under President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
,
Charles Colson Charles Wendell Colson (October 16, 1931 – April 21, 2012), generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as ...
performed public liaison work. President
Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
first formalized the public liaison office after he took office in 1974, giving Nixon administration veteran William J. Baroody Jr. a mandate for OPL to become "an instrument for projecting the image of a truly open administration (in contrast to Nixon's) and to secure Ford's election in
1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...
. Under Baroody's direction, the office incorporated outreach efforts with consumers and women that had been located elsewhere in the White House, and the overall staff grew to approximately thirty. At the core of its activities was an aggressive campaign of regional conferences that enabled the nation's first un-elected president to tour the country in a campaign-like atmosphere and prepare the way for an eventual reelection campaign." Some OPL heads used the office to push their own agendas. Midge Costanza used her time at OPL to broaden the influence of gays and lesbians in White House policy. Faith Ryan Whittlesey used her time at OPL to increase the influence of the
Christian right The Christian right, or the religious right, are Christian political factions characterized by their strong support of socially conservative and traditionalist policies. Christian conservatives seek to influence politics and public policy with t ...
Martin, William (1996). ''With God on Our Side: The Rise of the Religious Right in America''. New York: Broadway. p. 235. . and
anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
groups, such as the
Contras The Contras were the various U.S.-backed and funded right-wing rebel groups that were active from 1979 to 1990 in opposition to the Marxist Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction Government in Nicaragua, which came to power in 1979 fol ...
in
Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the count ...
. Future cabinet secretary and U.S. senator
Elizabeth Dole Mary Elizabeth Alexander Hanford Dole (née Hanford; born July 29, 1936)Mary Ella Cathey Hanford, "Asbury and Hanford Families: Newly Discovered Genealogical Information" ''The Historical Trail'' 33 (1996), pp. 44–45, 49. is an American attorn ...
headed OPL under President
Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 196 ...
from 1981 to 1983. Directors during
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...
's administration included future cabinet secretary Alexis Herman,
Maria Echaveste Maria Echaveste (born May 31, 1954) is a former U.S. presidential advisor to Bill Clinton and White House Deputy Chief of Staff during the second Clinton administration.
, Minyon Moore, and future
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 (Unite ...
campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill. In May 2009, Obama continued this theme and renamed the Office of Public Liaison the Office of Public ''Engagement''. Under the Obama administration, the Office of Public Engagement had been referred to as "the front door to the White House, through which everyone can participate and inform the work of the President." In April 2009, actor
Kal Penn Kalpen Suresh Modi (born April 23, 1977), known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor, author, academic lecturer, and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. As an actor, he is known for his role portrayin ...
was named an associate director in the Office of Public Engagement. His role was said to include outreach to the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities and the arts community. Prior to the appointment, he was a permanent cast member in the television series ''
House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
'', and his acceptance required him to be written out of the series. President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
initially announced his intention to appoint
Anthony Scaramucci Anthony Scaramucci ( ; born January 6, 1964) is an American financier who briefly served as the White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017. Scaramucci worked at Goldman Sachs's investment banking, equities, and priva ...
to oversee the Office of Public Liaison in his administration, pending a review of Scaramucci's finances by the Office of Government Ethics. However, George Sifakis was appointed instead in March 2017. Joe Biden announced on November 17, 2020, that the office will be known as the Office of Public Engagement in his incoming
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...
, and was most recently headed by
Cedric Richmond Cedric Levan Richmond (born September 13, 1973) is an American attorney, politician, and political advisor who served as a senior advisor to the president and director of the White House Office of Public Engagement in the Biden administration. A ...
until his resignation in May 2022, when he was replaced by Adrian Saenz in an acting capacity.


List of directors

The following have held the office of Director of Public Liaison at the White House:


References


External links


White House Office of Public Engagement

White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs

Official website
from the
presidency of Barack Obama Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
{{EOP agencies Executive Office of the President of the United States Public Liaison Presidency of the United States 1974 establishments in Washington, D.C. Government agencies established in 1974