Marc Thiessen

Marc Thiessen is one of the country’s top speechwriting and communications strategists. His career has taken him from Capitol Hill to the Pentagon and the West Wing, where he served as Chief Speechwriter to President George W. Bush, and a member of the White House Senior Staff.

Marc is a New York Times bestselling author,

At the White House, Marc was the lead writer on the 2007 and 2008 State of the Union addresses, and worked closely with President Bush on hundreds of speeches – including remarks for his 2004 presidential campaign and televised addresses from the Oval Office. Over five years at the White House, Marc helped the President craft his public arguments on issues ranging from defense and national security, to energy, health care, taxes, trade, and economic policy.

Before coming to the White House, Marc served as Chief Speechwriter for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld from 2001 to 2004. He crafted all of Rumsfeld’s major speeches during his first three years in office, including Congressional testimony making the case for military action in Afghanistan and Iraq, statements at press briefings during major combat operations, major policy addresses, and defense budget presentations before Congress – explaining complex budget decisions, and persuading Congress to support increased defense investments.

Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Marc spent more than six years on Capitol Hill as spokesman and senior policy advisor to Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC) from 1995-2001. Marc was also press secretary for the 1994 Huffington for Senate campaign in California. He worked for former Congressman Vin Weber (R-MN) at the think tank Empower America, and spent his first five years in Washington at Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly (Burson Marsteller), the public affairs firm headed by Republican strategist Charlie Black.



Marc is currently a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He appears every Sunday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” as well as other Fox programs, and makes frequent appearances on CNN, MSNBC, the BBC, NPR, and other news outlets. He is a graduate of Vassar College, and completed additional post-graduate studies at the Naval War College. Marc lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with his wife, Pamela, who works on Capitol Hill as legislative director for Sen. Rob Portman. They have four children.