Kenneth T. Walsh

Kenneth T. Walsh is a writer and analyst for U.S. News & World Report specializing in the White House and Washington, and a historian who has published eight books on the presidency. He has covered the White House for more than 32 years for U.S. News, was U.S. News’ chief White House correspondent, and for many years wrote both “The Presidency” column for The Report at usnews.com, and a daily blog called “Ken Walsh’s Washington” at usnews.com. He has covered six presidents: Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

He joined the magazine in 1984 as a congressional correspondent and has covered the presidency, presidential campaigns, and national politics since 1986. Walsh is one of the longest-serving White House correspondents in history.

He has won the two most prestigious awards for White House coverage: the Aldo Beckman Award (twice) and the Gerald R. Ford Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency (three times). In 2006, he won the Fitzwater Prize for Leadership in Public Communication presented by the Fitzwater Center at Franklin Pierce College.

As an adjunct professorial lecturer in communication at American University in Washington, D.C., Walsh teaches courses on “The PR Presidency,” “Politics and the Media,” “Media Ethics,” and “How the Media Shape History.” In 1998, he was named outstanding adjunct professor of the year.

Walsh served as president of the White House Correspondents’ Association from 1994 to 1995. He started the association’s highly successful scholarship program. He has twice served as a judge for the Robert F. Kennedy journalism awards.

Walsh makes television appearances on networks including ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox News, and C-SPAN, and is often a guest on radio programs across the country. He serves as a commentator on WTOP radio in Washington every Sunday morning. He gives frequent speeches on the presidency, politics and the media.

He has written eight books: Ultimate Insiders: White House Photographers and How They Shape History (2017), Celebrity in Chief: A History of the Presidents and the Culture of Stardom (2015); Prisoners of the White House: The Isolation of America’s Presidents and the Crisis of Leadership (2013); Family of Freedom: Presidents and African Americans in the White House (2011); From Mount Vernon to Crawford: A History of the Presidents and Their Retreats (2005); Air Force One: A History of the Presidents and Their Planes (2003); Ronald Reagan, Biography (1997) and Feeding the Beast: The White House Versus the Press (1996). Walsh’s freelance work has been published in the Washington Post, the American Journalism Review, and the New Republic.

In reporting on the U.S. presidency, Walsh has traveled to more than 70 countries and covered a wide range of events, including many superpower summits and international conferences. He has conducted numerous interviews with the presidents he has covered.

Prior to working at U.S. News, Walsh was Washington correspondent for the Denver Post from 1981-1984, specializing in regional reporting related to Colorado and the Rocky Mountain West. Before that, he covered government and politics for the Denver Post in Denver, and was a newsman and Statehouse correspondent for the Associated Press in Denver for three-and-a-half years.

Walsh earned a master’s degree in communication from American University in Washington, D.C. and a B.A. in journalism from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He lives with his wife Barclay Walsh in Bethesda, Maryland and Shady Side, Maryland. They have two children, Jean and Chris.