Patrick Butler

Patrick Butler became a vice president of The Washington Post Company in 1994, with responsibility for public policy, new business development, and special corporate projects; he was vice president of Newsweek and Legi-Slate for the three prior years. He has been president of Newsweek Productions since 1997, supervising the production of non-fiction television programming for PBS and cable networks. From 1985 to 1991, Butler was Washington vice president of Times Mirror. From 1982 to 1985, he was president of Patrick Butler and Company, a communications consulting firm whose clients included Ronald Reagan, Howard Baker, Bob Dole, Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Cary Grant, Lamar Alexander, Bristol-Myers, American Express, Times Mirror, and RCA. Previously, he had served as staff vice president-government relations for RCA Corporation (1980-1982) and as director of corporate public relations for Bristol-Myers Company (1977-1978). In government service, Butler was a speechwriter for President Gerald R. Ford (1975-1977). From 1978 to 1987, he worked in various capacities for Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr. Butler was legislative director and chairman of the Impeachment Task Force for Congressman Lawrence J. Hogan during the Nixon impeachment proceedings in1974. He was a member of the National Council on the Humanities (1988-1994). Butler is chairman of the Dean's Council of the American University School of Communication and a member of the board of the Foundation for the National Archives, The Media Institute, Alfred University, the University of Tennessee College of Communications, the Children's Charities Foundation, and So Others Might Eat. Butler majored in political science at the University of Tennessee. He earned a master's (with distinction) in journalism and public affairs at American University, where he has taught graduate courses on The Press and Politics and on 21st Century Journalism. He has been accepted as a Fellow in the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.