The President's Forum Presents Karl Rove

Release date: September 16, 2009 |

Karl Rove, the “architect” of George W. Bush’s successful 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, will speak at Goucher College on Wednesday, September 16, at 8 p.m. in Kraushaar Auditorium.

His lecture, titled “Lessons from the Architect: Karl Rove Looks Back and Looks Forward,“ is a presentation of the President’s Forum. Goucher students, faculty, staff, and alumni may reserve tickets by calling 410-337-6333 or by e-mailing boxoffice@goucher.edu. The doors will open at 7 p.m., and all bags will need to be searched for security purposes.

Before Rove strategized President Bush’s 2000 and 2004 campaigns, he was president of Karl Rove and Company, an Austin, Texas-based direct-mail firm that primarily worked for Republican candidates. It is estimated that Rove and his firm worked on hundreds of campaigns at all levels and secured wins for 80 percent of their clients, including George W. Bush (2000 and 2004 presidential elections, 1994 and 1998 Texas gubernatorial elections), Senator John Ashcroft (1994 U.S. Senate election), Bill Clements (1986 Texas gubernatorial election), Senator John Cornyn (2002 U.S. Senate election), and Phil Gramm (1982 U.S. House and 1984 U.S. Senate elections).

Following on a three-decade-long relationship with the Bush family, George W. Bush named Rove as his senior adviser from 2000 to 2007 and as his deputy chief of staff from 2004 to 2007. At the White House, Rove oversaw the offices of Strategic Initiatives, Political Affairs, Public Liaison, and Intergovernmental Affairs and was deputy chief of staff for policy, coordinating the White House policy-making process.

In Bush’s acceptance speech after defeating Democratic Senator John Kerry in 2004, he singled out Rove as the “architect” of his re-election. But Bush’s second term proved tumultuous for Rove. Among other controversies surrounding the administration and the Republican party, Rove’s name had been mentioned as far back as 2003 in connection with the case of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA officer whose name was leaked to the media after her husband wrote a New York Times opinion piece that was embarrassing to the Bush White House. Though he was not charged with any crimes, Rove gave up his domestic policy role in the administration in April 2006.

In August 2007 he resigned from the administration.

Since leaving the White House, Rove has been a political analyst and regular contributor at Fox News; he also writes a weekly op-ed for The Wall Street Journal and is a Newsweek columnist. He is now working to complete a book that will be published by Simon & Schuster.

A Colorado native, he attended the University of Utah, the University of Maryland-College Park, George Mason University, and the University of Texas at Austin.

Rove has taught graduate students at UT Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and undergraduates in a joint appointment from the Journalism and Government departments at the university.

Rove  serves on the board of trustees for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation and the Texas State History Museum Foundation, and he is a member of the Texas Philosophical Society.

The President’s Forum at Goucher College brings to campus notable figures from various fields and backgrounds for incisive discussions and lively debates on today’s most vital issues. Presented several times a year, the Forum is an open invitation to the members of our community—both on campus and beyond—to participate in the intellectual life of the college through open dialogue on topics both relevant and timely.