Michael J. Gerson, who gave us words for 911, passed today

Michael Gerson, a speechwriter for former President George W. Bush and a Washington Post columnist who fiercely criticized President Donald Trump, died on Thursday at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC. Gerson was 58.

A man of deep faith, Gerson, a journalist and sometime writer for Charles Colson, joined the George W. Bush campaign in 1999 as a speechwriter who synched with Bush’s faith and voice. Many of his speeches for Bush also gave powerful voice to Americans’ fears, hopes, and beliefs, particularly after 911. Gerson became a close friend of the Bush family.

Since becoming sick with slow-growing kidney cancer in 2013, Gerson wrote about how his faith had become so much richer, deeper, and more comforting. His love of his family was well known and obvious even in small moments of eating and drinking together. I am grateful to have experienced the kindness that extended around him like a warm blanket.

In a statement Thursday, Bush said he was “heartbroken” after learning of the death of Gerson.

“He was a great writer, and I was fortunate he served as my chief speechwriter and a trusted advisor for many years,” Bush said. “His brilliant mind was enhanced by his big heart. As a result, Mike harnessed the power of the pen to not just write about good policy, but drive it.”

In Bush’s first inaugural address, Gerson described democracy as the “seed upon the wind, taking root in many nations.” Gerson also coined the phrases “armies of compassion” and “axis of evil” that became twin bywords to sum up Bush’s social programs and his war aims.

Gerson was also responsible for the famous Bush line in a campaign speech pledging to end “the soft bigotry of low expectations” in the education of minority and low-income students.

After the 9/11 attacks, Gerson’s speeches for the President (of course, written out of White House conversations on how to address the nation) became part of the American consciousness.

In a September 14, 2001 speech, Bush comforted Americans that “grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time.” But “[g]oodness, remembrance, and love have no end. And the Lord of life holds all who die, and all who mourn.”

While comforting Americans, Gerson worked with Bush to also show the degree of toughness that was needed to meet the moment. Bush said, “[O]ur responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.” Gerson was unapologetic about his support for the war in Iraq.

Gerson joined the Washington Post in 2007 as a conservative voice and wrote twice-weekly columns.  He also wrote several books promoting what he called “a common good conservatism,” like Heroic Conservatism in 2007, City of Man: religion and politics in a new era in 2010 with Pete Wehner,

Gerson was born in Belmar, N.J., on May 15, 1964. He was raised in the St. Louis area by evangelical Christian parents. His mother was an artist, and his father was a dairy engineer who developed ice cream flavors. He studied theology at Wheaton College, an evangelical school in suburban Chicago, where he graduated in 1986. He began his career ghostwriting for Charles Colson, the born-again Watergate figure and founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries.

In the late 1980s, Gerson moved into political jobs such as political director for Senator Daniel Coats (R-Ind.).

In 1990, Gerson married the former Dawn Soon Miller, who was born in South Korea but raised in the United States. In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons, Michael (“Bucky”) and Nicholas (“Nick”), and two brothers.

By 1996, Gerson’s speechwriting skills took him into presidential politics, writing speeches for Senator Robert J. Dole (R-Kan.) during his 1996 presidential bid.

Gerson, then, became a senior editor at US News & World Report before being recruited by Bush’s campaign strategist Karl Rove as a speechwriter for the Bush-Cheney ticket ahead of the 2000 election.

At first, it was just the thrill of political “high-wire excitement,” Gerson said. Then, during a campaign stop in Gaffney, SC, he discovered a personal bond with Bush when someone in the crowd asked how to block illegal migrants at the southern border.

Bush “took the opportunity to remind his rural, conservative audience that ‘family values ​​don’t end at the Rio Grande,’” wrote Gerson, “and that so long as ‘mothers and fathers’ in Mexico could not support their children at home, they would look to America for opportunities.”

In a 2019 sermon, Gerson concluded, “Fate may do what it wants. But this much is settled. In our right minds, we know that love is at the heart of all things…That even when strength fails, there is perseverance. And even when perseverance fails, there is hope. And even when hope fails, there is love. And love never fails. So how do we know this? How can anyone be so confident?

Because we are Lazarus, and we live.”

In a column for the 2021 holiday season, Gerson continued to explore his emotions in the battle with cancer, arriving at a singular destination: “Hope wins.”