Kenneth Duberstein

Duberstein was born to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, the son of Jewel (Falb), a teacher, and Aaron Duberstein, a fundraiser for the Boy Scouts of America.[1][2][3] He graduated from Poly Prep Country Day School and Franklin and Marshall College (A.B. 1965) and American University (M.A. 1966). He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Franklin and Marshall in 1989. While in college he was a member of Zeta Beta Tau.[4]

Duberstein began his public service on Capitol Hill as an intern for Senator Jacob K. Javits.[1] His other early government service included Deputy Under Secretary of Labor during the Gerald Ford Administration and Director of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the U.S. General Services Administration.[5]

During Reagan's eight years in office, he had two stints in the White House. His first was as Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs (1981–1983).[6] His major accomplishment of this period was pushing Reagan's economic agenda through a Democratic House of Representatives,[7] including the 1982 Tax Bill. Duberstein was described as Reagan's invisible link to Congress. He was at the center of the Administrations push for the bill, working on both sides of the political divide.[8] His second stint was also for two years, first as Deputy Chief of Staff and then for the final six months of the Reagan presidency as White House Chief of Staff (1988–1989).[9] Eight days after Reagan was on TV and acknowledged the Iran–Contra affair, Duberstein took over as chief of staff. Around that time, it was revealed that Nancy Reagan had used an astrologer to determine dates for the president's public appearances. Reagan's presidency had reached a low point; approval rating was at 37%.[10] His promotion was called a wake-up call for a "drowsy White House". He came to the job with energy, loyalty, hard work and enthusiasm, having earned the nickname Duderdog; and he made sure to call Nancy twice a day.[11] He had Reagan give a mea culpa address to the nation; poll numbers went right up and the presidency had been turned around.[12]

Duberstein is said to have been the first Jewish person to be White House Chief of Staff.[13]

Between his White House appointments, he was vice-president and director of Business-Government Relations of the Committee for Economic Development and was a lobbyist as vice president of Timmons & Company.[14] Prior to 1987, he served on the Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, succeeded by Betty Heitman, previously co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.[15]

Duberstein with President Reagan watching the Tax Bill vote with staff in the White House, 19 August 1982

In January 1989, Duberstein was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal by Reagan.[16] He was the chairman of the Ethics Committee for the U.S. Olympic Committee[17] and served as vice chairman of the independent Special Bid Oversight Reform Commission for the U.S. Olympics Committee.[18] He also appeared on Bloomberg alongside John Podesta,[19] and had 23 appearances on C-SPAN.[20] Beginning in season five, Duberstein was a consultant for the TV show The West Wing.[21]

In 2013, Duberstein was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the United States Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage in the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.[22] His position succeeded, as the court would go on to effectively legalize same-sex marriage in California.

Lobbyist

Duberstein in 2006

Duberstein transitioned from the White House to lobbyist; he was successful, and his insight and advice was sought by leaders of both parties.[23] Duberstein founded The Duberstein Group Inc. in 1987. It is a consulting services company providing corporate consulting and government relations services.[24] Among its client are Amazon, BP and MLB.[25] Duberstein was hired by Russian authorities, via Goldman Sachs, to lobby against the Magnitsky Bill (as known as the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act), a bill in the U.S. Congress "to impose sanctions on persons responsible for the detention, abuse, or death of Sergei Magnitsky, and for other gross violations of human rights in the Russian Federation".[26][27] Duberstein showed discretion and did not discuss his work, leading to an "air of mystery" about him and what he did for his clients.[28]

Duberstein, a "back-slapping Brooklyn native,"[11] was one of the most connected Washington people.[40] "A permanent Washington fixture,"[35] he was a regular at Washington parties and network talk shows.[40]

A gregarious and rumpled, wise-cracking ‘people person’ of relentless optimism and energy...the consummate Washington insider and institutionalist, a big man with an easy smile and a generous laugh who could be hard-nosed, loved gossiping with reporters, believed in bipartisanship and offered his advice to anyone who asked – especially those who succeeded him in the chief of staff job.[1]

Duberstein noted that as a Brooklynite he always enjoyed working with people.[41] As a "cultivator" of the press he was generally discreet, refusing to be quoted by name, even for articles about himself.[33] He was forever loved by the Washington press for all the leaking he did during the Reagan years; and, "he loved being Ken Duberstein."[40]

Duberstein was a politically moderate Rockefeller Republican, fiscally conservative and socially moderate.[42] Before John McCain secured the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, Duberstein made inquiries about running the transition team; McCain was not interested.[28][43][44][45][46] He later broke from his party in the election and supported Obama; commenting on the nomination of Sarah Palin for vice-president, he said: “Even at McDonald's, you’re interviewed three times before you’re given a job."[47]

Duberstein was married three times, with his first two marriages, to Marjorie Duberstein and Sydney Duberstein, ending in divorce.[1] He had a daughter from the first marriage and three children from the second.[48][49] He was then married to Jacqueline Fain, a former TV producer, for 18 years until his death.[50] At their 2003 wedding, Supreme Court Justice David Souter was the officiant and Marvin Hamlisch provided the music.[40] He had a history of kidney disease, and in 2014, received a kidney transplant; his son was the donor.[1] After a long illness, Duberstein died at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington on March 2, 2022, at the age of 77. The funeral was at Washington Hebrew Congregation[1][40]

• Appearances on C-SPAN