Larry Speakes
| Larry Speakes | |
|---|---|
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White House Press Secretary Acting |
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In office March 30, 1981 – February 1, 1987 |
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| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | James Brady |
| Succeeded by | Marlin Fitzwater (Acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Larry Melvin Speakes September 13, 1939 Cleveland, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Died | January 10, 2014 (aged 74) Cleveland, Mississippi, U.S. |
| Political party |
Democratic (Before 1974) Republican (1974–2014) |
| Spouse(s) | Laura Crawford Betty Robinson Aleta Sindelar |
| Children | Sandy Barry Jeremy |
| Alma mater | University of Mississippi, Oxford |
Larry Melvin Speakes (September 13, 1939 – January 10, 2014) was an acting press spokesman for the White House under President Ronald Reagan, having held the position from 1981 to 1987.
Speakes was born in Cleveland in northwestern Mississippi, which had the nearest hospital to his parent's middle-class home in Merigold in Bolivar County. His father, Harry Earl Speakes, was a banker. His mother was the former Ethlyn Frances Fincher.
Speakes received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Mississippi in Oxford. He served as editor of the Oxford Eagle' in 1961, and thereafter as managing editor of the Bolivar Commercial in Cleveland from 1962 to 1966. From 1966 to 1968, he worked as general manager and editor of Progress Publishers of Leland, Mississippi.
Speakes headed to Washington, D.C. in 1968, serving as press secretary to Democratic Senator James Eastland of Mississippi. In this capacity, he worked as spokesman for the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary and a coordinator of the senator's reelection campaign in 1972 against the Republican Gil Carmichael.
The White House tapped Speakes in 1974 as a Staff Assistant and soon became the Press Secretary to the Special Counsel to the President at the height of the Watergate scandal. Upon Nixon's resignation, President Ford appointed Speakes to be Assistant Press Secretary to the President. Speakes served as Bob Dole's press secretary during his unsuccessful vice-presidential run with Ford.
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