Stephen H. Hess, 92, Brookings scholar and adviser to presidents, dies

Stephen H. Hess, a longtime Brookings Institution scholar who advised presidents, wrote widely read books on government and the press, and served as a frequent, quotable commentator in Washington, died Sunday at his home in Washington. He was 92. His son James said the cause was prostate cancer.

Mr. Hess served as a White House speechwriter for President Dwight D. Eisenhower and as an urban affairs adviser to President Richard M. Nixon. He also counseled President Gerald R. Ford, worked for President-elect Jimmy Carter and President Ronald Reagan, and helped orchestrate President Bill Clinton’s appointment of Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court.

Since 1972 he had been a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and he taught at George Washington University (2004–09) and at Harvard (1979–82). He wrote or co-wrote more than 20 books, including the 2018 memoir Bit Player: My Life with Presidents and Ideas. Known as a go-to source for reporters, Mr.

Hess specialized in the presidency, public policy and the press. His 1981 book The Washington Reporters profiled 1,250 journalists and found that Washington reporting was overwhelmingly anecdotal, with documents used in only about one-quarter of articles. In The Government/Press Connection (1984) he reported on press offices across agencies and rejected the charge that press officers mainly manage or control the news.

Key Topics

Politics, Stephen H. Hess, Brookings Institution, White House, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Prostate Cancer