Michael John Gerson (born May 15, 1964, New Jersey) is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as President George W. Bush's chief speechwriter from 2001-2006 until June 2006, and as a senior policy advisor from 2000 through June 2006. He also served as a member of the White House Iraq Group. Gerson graduated from Westminster Christian Academy and Wheaton College, Illinois.
Prior to joining the Bush Administration, he was a senior policy advisor with The Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy research institution. He also worked at various times as an aide to Indiana Senator Dan Coats and a speechwriter for the Presidential campaign of Bob Dole before briefly leaving the political world to cover it as a journalist for U.S. News & World Report.
Gerson's noteworthy phrases for Bush include "Axis of Evil", a phrase adapted from "axis of hatred", itself suggested by fellow speechwriter David Frum but deemed too mild. Gerson also coined "the soft bigotry of low expectations" and "the armies of compassion." Gerson proposed the use of a "smoking gun/mushroom cloud" metaphor during a September 5, 2002 meeting of the White House Iraq Group, in an effort to sell the American public on the supposed nuclear dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.
Gerson has said one of his favorite speeches was given at the National Cathedral on September 14, 2001, a few days after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which included the following passage: "Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance, and love have no end. And the Lord of life holds all who die, and all who mourn.
On June 14, 2006, it was announced that Gerson was leaving the White House to pursue other writing and policy work. He was replaced as Bush's chief speechwriter by WSJ chief editor William McGurn. On September 11, 2006, The Washington Post announced that Gerson would begin writing a twice-weekly column for the paper in early 2007.