In a National Archives journal article the history of the White House Press Secretary was researched and presented. What it stated was that Cabinet Secretary George B. (M.) Cortelyou was considered the first, though not a title then, as he in 1901, it stated, invited the press in to discuss the condition of the President McKinley, who had been shot at the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, NY and news of the Spanish-American War.
President William McKinley had been expected to survive, but eight days later passed away, and then Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was rushed down on a series of horse-drawn jitneys from the Tahawas Club, where he had been climbing Mt. Marcy, in New York State's Adirondacks, to the railhead in North Creek, NY to read the telegram announcing the death, and where he boarded a special train for Buffalo, NY. He empowered George Cortelyou in organizing the offices, once a shorthand teacher in New York City, and continued I guess to make announcements to the press.
I found it odd at the time that the first woman to hold that position, Dee Dee Myers under President Clinton, was not even mentioned as the article progressed through the different people who occupied the position. I hope they return soon, and this is not a permanent harbinger. Yahoo article.
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