(PresidentialWire.com)- Ken Duberstein, President Reagan’s last White House chief of staff passed away last Wednesday at the age of 77.
Before joining the Reagan administration in 1981, Duberstein worked in the General Services Administration and later the Department of Labor during the Ford Administration. He also interned for New York Republican Senator Jacob Javits.
Duberstein, who had worked as Reagan’s head of legislative affairs and deputy chief of staff before being promoted to chief of staff in 1988, was the typical Washington establishment Republican and DC lobbyist.
Duberstein left the Reagan White House in 1983 to become a lobbyist. But after the Iran-Contra scandal in 1987, he was brought back to try and resuscitate Reagan’s presidency that was sinking under unprecedented low approval numbers.
In a 2014 interview on CNN, Duberstein described Ronald Reagan as more of a “dead duck” than a “lame duck” and said he was called back to “rebuild” the final years of Reagan’s presidency.
After his time in the Reagan White House, he established the boutique lobbying firm Duberstein Group, whose clients included United Airlines, Goldman Sachs, and Major League Baseball.
Eventually, however, Duberstein dumped the Republican Party.
In 2008, he endorsed Barack Obama for President after Republican nominee John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.
Ron Klain, President Biden’s chief of staff was a big fan of Duberstein’s, which tells you all you need to know about him. Klain said Duberstein was “rooting” for the Biden administration to succeed.
Duberstein was also a close advisor to the late Colin Powell, the so-called Republican who endorsed Barack Obama twice and support Joe Biden over Donald Trump in 2020. Duberstein was the guy called in to rehab Powell’s image after his reputation was damaged over the Iraq War.
The establishment Republican insider also served as a consultant for NBC’s long-running series “The West Wing.”
He is survived by his wife and four children.
