James Richard Wilkinson is a former U.S. government employee who works in the field of public relations (PR). Wilkinson, a Republican, began his government career under former Texas congressman Dick Armey. Before joining the George W. Bush administration, Wilkinson helped sell the idea that Al Gore claimed to have "invented the internet".
While part of the Bush administration, he worked to help convince the U.S. public to support the Iraq War, was involved in the handling of the Jessica Lynch story, and bolstered Condoleezza Rice's image. Overall, Wilkinson was a "well-traveled utility man for the Bush administration's PR team".[1] In 2011 he was portrayed in the HBO film Too Big to Fail by actor Topher Grace.
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Wilkinson grew up in East Texas, went to high school in the small town of Tenaha, and initially planned to be an undertaker.[2] Wilkinson received his BBA in finance from UT Arlington in 1993 and his M.S. in government from Johns Hopkins University.[3] He started working for Republican Congressman Dick Armey in 1992[2]—staying until 2000[4]—and worked as the spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.[5]
In 1999, during the G.W. Bush campaign for President, he helped sell the idea that Al Gore claimed to have "invented the Internet".[2][6][7] In 2000, he traveled to Florida to support Republican activists during the recount.[2][8] Wilkinson joined the Bush Administration and worked as "White House deputy director of communications and spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's transition team".[1] Wilkinson helped direct Bush's September 14, 2001 media event at ground zero, handing Bush the bullhorn he used to say, "I hear you, and soon the world will hear you" to the workers.[9]
Wilkinson served as an officer in the United States Navy Reserves.[4] His mentors have included former R.N.C. chairman Ed Gillespie[2] and former G.W. Bush adviser Karen Hughes.[8] As Karl Rove's choice,[10] Wilkinson left the Bush Administration to work as the communications director for the 2004 Republican National Convention before returning to the White House under Rice.[1]
Wilkinson likes to stay behind the scenes.[2][3] When asked personal questions by The New York Observer Wilkinson declined answering, saying "Staff should be seen and not heard. And biographical pieces amount to nothing more than climbing out on the seat of a dunking booth and handing out baseballs all over town."[2] Wilkinson, who has run marathons,[3] has been described as hyperactive and media-savvy.[11]
As of 2010, Wilkinson was working as Managing Partner of Brunswick Group LLP, a public relations firm.[12]
Wilkinson was head of the "war room", or Coalition Information Center for the Afghanistan War.[13] He highlighted efforts to improve living conditions for Afghan women.[13] In public relations preparations for 2003 invasion of Iraq, Wilkinson was part of the White House Iraq Group under Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.[14] The goal of the group was to "get the country on the page that the White House wanted everybody to believe: that Iraq, with its weapons of mass destruction, was an imminent threat to the United States".[14]
For the Iraq war, Wilkinson was the chief spokesman for Gen. Tommy Franks under CENTCOM in Doha.[15] Many reporters were unhappy in Doha, and the atmosphere was tense; Ben Smith of The New York Observer mentioned three theories on the source of the tension: that stationed reporters were jealous of their embedded colleagues, that Wilkinson helped execute an operation that controlled the information well, or that Wilkinson was inept.[2] Ron Suskind, writing in The Washington Post, called Wilkinson the "spinmeister for the Iraq war".[16] When Wilkinson faced questions from reporters he found lacking in support for the Iraq War, he would rebuke them.[17]
In the book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, Wilkinson is described as a "master propagandist".[18] The book states that Wilkinson concocted details regarding the Jessica Lynch story[19] and "arranged to give the Washington Post exclusive access to classified intelligence that was the basis for the now-discredited 'She Was Fighting to the Death' story that ran on the front page of the newspaper" on April 3, 2003.[20] When interviewed by the United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Wilkinson said that he did not know the identity of the "U.S. officials" cited in the April 3 story.[21] Wilkinson could not explain why erroneous news reports emerged about Private Lynch’s capture and rescue.[21]
The congressional report, titled Misleading Information from the Battlefield: The Tillman and Lynch Episodes states that, "As the Committee investigated the Tillman and Lynch cases, it encountered a striking lack of recollection. In Private Lynch’s case, Jim Wilkinson...told the Committee he did not know where the false information originated or who disseminated it."[22]
During media coverage of Lynch, Wilkinson said the memorable quote, "America does not leave its heroes behind".[2] Tommy Franks, in his book American Soldier, writes that Wilkinson was too eager to pass along the night-vision video of Lynch to the media.[23]
Wilkinson was the spokesman for the United States National Security Council.[24] In an op-ed titled "Smear Without Fear", Paul Krugman of The New York Times attributed to Wilkinson a smear on Richard Clarke broadcast on CNN, writing that,
| “ | Wilkinson seems to have questioned Mr. Clarke's sanity, saying: 'He sits back and visualizes chanting by bin Laden, and bin Laden has a mystical mind control over U.S. officials. This is sort of "X-Files" stuff.' Really? On Page 246 of "Against All Enemies," Mr. Clarke bemoans the way the invasion of Iraq, in his view, played right into the hands of Al Qaeda: 'Bush handed that enemy precisely what it wanted and needed.. .. It was as if Usama bin Laden, hidden in some high mountain redoubt, were engaging in long-range mind control of George Bush.' That's not '"X-Files" stuff': it's a literary device, meant to emphasize just how ill conceived our policy is. Mr. Blitzer should be telling Mr. Wilkinson to apologize.[24] | ” |
As a senior aide to then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Wilkinson was credited with an image-making strategy that elevated Rice to "rock star status".[25] Wilkinson employed specific strategies to counter notions Rice was cold and did not care about diplomacy.[11] While Chief of Staff in the U.S. Treasury department, Wilkinson worked under Hank Paulson.[26] A Wilkinson September 2008 email regarding the government's approach to Lehman Brothers appeared in a 2010 Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission document. Wilkinson emailed "can’t stomach us bailing out lehman. Will be horrible in the press."[27] Wilkinson declined to comment on his emails.[28]
Wilkinson was portrayed in the May 23, 2011 HBO film Too Big to Fail by actor Topher Grace.[29]