Victoria Clarke

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Torie Clarke on the cover of her 2006 book

Victoria C. "Torie" Clarke (March 1959 in Pittsburgh) is an American public relations consultant who has served in the private sector and in three Republican presidential administrations, most notably as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs under Donald Rumsfeld.

Clarke is a graduate of George Washington University and began her career as a photographer for the now defunct Washington Star. She was President of Bozell Eskew Advertising, Vice President of the National Cable Telecommunications Association, and the Manhattan office director for the public-relations firm of Hill & Knowlton. She has served as the PR chief to Senator John McCain and held positions on the staff of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. Clarke joined the staff of Vice President Cheney in early 2001. She subsequently moved to the Pentagon to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs during President George W. Bush's first term in office, under Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

It is reported that Clarke was fired from her position due to the dramatization of Private Jessica Lynch's rescue from Iraq. "With media pressure mounting at the Pentagon for some truthful answers, just two weeks later Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke - best known for her Captain Kangaroo suits - resigned 'for personal reasons,' effective immediately"[1].

Clarke has been a close colleague of Mary Matalin and Peggy Noonan since the Reagan administration. Clarke often filled in for Matalin on the show Equal Time during its run on CNBC in the 1990s.

She is the author of Lipstick on a Pig: Winning In the No-Spin Era by Someone Who Knows the Game (2006, ISBN 0-7432-7116-5), about spin in politics. Clarke appeared on the February 7, 2006, episode of The Daily Show to promote it.

Clarke is a pro-feminist, pro-choice Republican. She is married to former Fannie Mae executive Brian J. Graham, a Democrat. She is the mother of three children (two sons and a daughter). She and her family live in suburban Washington, D.C.