Duberstein, Kenneth M. (Kenneth Marc), 1944-

Kenneth Marc Duberstein was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 21, 1944. He attended Franklin and Marshall College in Pennsylvania and received an internship in Washington working for Senator Jacob Javits. During his internship, Duberstein earned a Master’s degree in American Political Dynamics from American University. He attended New York Law School for a year, then returned to Franklin and Marshall as an administrative assistant to its president. Duberstein was hired by the General Services Administration (GSA) in 1970, and became Director of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs for GSA in 1972. He left GSA in August 1976 and joined the Department of Labor as a Deputy Under Secretary. After President Ford left office in 1977, Duberstein became a director for the Committee for Economic Development, a Washington public policy organization. When President Ronald Reagan took office in January 1981, Duberstein joined the new administration as the Legislative Affairs person responsible for liaison with the House of Representatives. He became head of Legislative Affairs in December of that year. In December 1983, he left the White House and took a position with Timmons & Company Inc., the lobbying and public relations firm headed by former Reagan campaign and transition director William Timmons. Duberstein also served on the 1984 Reagan-Bush campaign's Congressional Liaison Team. In 1987 Duberstein returned to the White House as the deputy to the new Chief of Staff, Howard Baker, with responsibility for most of the White House’s day-to-day operations. When Baker announced his resignation in June 1988, he recommended that Duberstein succeed him as Chief of Staff, and this recommendation was followed. Duberstein saw to the smooth operation of the White House during the last six months of the Reagan Presidency. In addition, he acted as a chief policy adviser to the President, and helped develop and deliver White House support for George H. W. Bush’s 1988 Presidential campaign. After Election Day, President Reagan appointed Duberstein the chief Administration coordinator for the transition to the incoming Bush Administration.