But in 1929, that changed when President Herbert Hoover appointed a man named George E. Akerson as the first White House press secretary. Akerson had been a well-known reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune before coming to Washington as that paper's Washington correspondent, which drew him to Hoover's attention.

Since then, there have been many press secretaries; many have been given the task of defending the indefensible, and some have shone in the role while others... haven't. So let's examine a few notables, then look at the state of affairs in this office during the current administration.

Notable Figures

The first Press Secretary I remember well is Marlin Fitzwater, who was Ronald Reagan's final Press Secretary and who also filled that role for George H.W. Bush, serving from 1987 to 1993. That tenure, almost six years, seems a long time for such a stressful gig, but all in all, Fitzwater handled it well; relations between Republican Presidential administrations and the media were perhaps not as acrimonious as they are today. Fitzwater was steady, measured, and a bit pedestrian but generally comported himself well.

One of the better press secretaries for a Republican president was Tony Snow, who filled this role for President George W. Bush in 2006 and 2007. Snow had been the host of Fox News Sunday, was a primary guest host for Rush Limbaugh, and had held a number of other media positions prior to his press secretary tenure. Snow had an informal, cheerful demeanor and was great at volleying with the legacy media.

Finally, during the Trump administration, relations between the White House and the legacy media became much more strained. While President Trump went through several press secretaries, concluding with the notable Kayleigh McEnany, for my money, the best one was the person who has now succeeded her father as Governor of Arkansas, that being Sarah Huckabee Sanders. 

Mrs. Sanders, to put it bluntly, didn't take any crap. In press briefings with a media that was more hostile and partisan than ever before in history, she regularly gave as good as she got, and under the circumstances, that's as good as it gets.

Some press secretaries, of course, had it harder than others; I could point out Richard Nixon's Ron Ziegler, who was the face of that administration through Watergate, or Jody Powell, who had the unenviable task of representing the Carter Administration and their disastrous economic record.

But when one compares any of those people to the current crop, the historical examples come off looking downright statesmanlike.

The Current Administration

Since taking office, the Biden administration has distinguished themselves as being one thing above all—incompetent—and their press secretaries have been no exception. The first person given this task of defending the indefensible, Jen Psaki, seemed primarily to be marking time until she could launch her legacy media career, in which she is following much the same role but in a different venue. Upon her departure, in a blatant diversity hire, the Biden administration brought in a person who is inarguably the worst press secretary in U.S. history, that being the disastrous Karine Jean-Pierre.

This is a person who is regularly shown to have very little idea what she is doing or, indeed, even what she is supposed to be doing. Her briefings are frequently incoherent, and even a friendly media can't keep covering up her incapability of staying on topic or even answering direct questions.

Ms. Jean-Pierre, let us be honest about it, was obviously not hired for her skills, experience, or capability; she was put in the position because of her "historic" combination of skin color, plumbing, and sexual proclivities. This is made apparent every time she speaks, and at some level, one has to feel a little sympathy for her; she is clearly in so far over her head that she can no longer even see the surface.

But then, that pretty much summarizes this entire administration.

What Comes Next?

Next year (to belabor the obvious for just a moment) is a presidential election year, and unless something truly ground-breaking happens, the new president will be either a Republican or a Democrat. If it's the former, look for the White House Press Corps to turn hostile again, which will require a tough-minded, capable person to serve as the face of that administration to the media. If it's the latter, then you can expect much of the White House Press Corps (other than Peter Doocy and a few others) to resume the tongue-bathing they have been giving the Biden administration officials. Either way, it's going to be fun to watch at times - and maddening at others. In other words, business as usual; the Executive Branch, the White House Press Corps, and indeed all of "official" Washington will continue to fiddle while Rome burns.

As it happens, while researching this piece, I uncovered a Biden administration training video for the job of White House Press Secretary; you can view that training video, unredacted, below: