The President today appointed Larry M. Speakes to be Assistant to the President. Mr. Speakes will be the President's chief spokesman and will continue to serve as Principal Deputy Press Secretary to the President.
Prior to joining the White House staff as Deputy Press Secretary to the President on January 20, 1981, Mr. Speakes was vice president of the international public relations firm of Hill and Knowlton in 1977-1981. He served as deputy spokesman in the office of the President-elect during transition and was on the communications staff of the Reagan-Bush committee during the 1980 campaign.
Mr. Speakes started his newspaper career in 1961 as editor of the Oxford (Mississippi) Eagle and was managing editor of The Bolivar Commercial in Cleveland, Miss., in 1962-1966. He was general manager and editor of Progress Publishers of Leland, Miss., publishing weekly newspapers in four cities, in 1966-1968. His newspapers won top awards from the Mississippi Press Association for 6 straight years.
Mr. Speakes came to Washington in 1968 as press secretary to Senator James O. Eastland (D-Miss.), serving as spokesman for the Committee on the Judiciary and a coordinator for Senator Eastland's 1972 reelection campaign. During his service with Senator Eastland, Mr. Speakes directed press relations for major Judiciary Committee hearings, including the confirmation of four Supreme Court Justices.
In 1974 Mr. Speakes joined the Nixon administration as a staff assistant to the President and was later appointed press secretary to the Special Counsel to the President. In August 1974, he became Assistant Press Secretary to the President in the Ford administration. During the 1976 Presidential campaign, he was press secretary to Senator Bob Dole (R-Kans.), the Republican candidate for Vice President. When President Ford left office in 1977, Mr. Speakes became his press secretary, serving until June 1, 1977.
Mr. Speakes attended the University of Mississippi, where he majored in journalism. He has received honors and awards, including the Distinguished Journalism Alumni Award from the University of Mississippi in 1981; Kappa Sigma Fraternity National Man of the Year Award in 1982; honorary doctor of letters degree from Indiana Central University in 1982; and the Special Achievement Award for 1983 from the National Association of Government Communicators.
He is married to the former Laura Crawford, has three children, and resides in Annandale, Va.
Ronald Reagan, Appointment of Larry M. Speakes as Assistant to the President Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/263021