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Karen Hughes

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Karen Hughes is a former counselor to President George W. Bush and senior advisor of Americans for Carbon Dividends, a nominally right-leaning advocacy group created in 2018 to lobby Congressional Republicans for a carbon tax-and-dividend program. 1 2

Hughes is a former executive director of the Republican Party of Texas, a former adviser to ExxonMobil, and a former vice chair of the public relations company Burson-Marsteller. 3 4 1

Career

Karen Hughes is a former Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs during the George W. Bush administration. Hughes oversaw three Department of State bureaus: Educational and Cultural Affairs, Public Affairs, and International Information Programs. Hughes aided in developing foreign policy at the Department of State and was tasked with confronting ideological support for terrorism worldwide. 1

Hughes is a former advisor and counselor to President George W. Bush. As counselor, Hughes worked on domestic and foreign policy issues, led communications efforts during the War on Terror, and managed several departments at the White House Office including communications, media affairs, and speechwriting. Hughes worked as a communications consultant for George W. Bush’s 2004 reelection campaign. Additionally, Hughes detailed her experiences working for President Bush in her 2004 memoir Ten Minutes from Normal.

Hughes is a former director of communications for then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, and helped write Bush’s 1999 autobiography, A Charge to Keep: My Journey to the White House. 1 4 Huges was also a former executive director of the Republican Party of Texas and a former television news reporter for the NBC affiliate in Dallas/Fort Worth, KXAS-TV. 1

Hughes is counsel to Americans for Carbon Dividends (AFCD), an advocacy group that educates the public and lobbies for a carbon tax-and-dividend policy. 5 2 Hughes is a former adviser to ExxonMobil, and in 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hughes advised that investing in renewable energy would improve the company’s reputation and be good for the environment. 3

Hughes is a former global vice chair of the public relations company Burson-Marsteller. 4

U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research

Karen Hughes participated in the 2006 Middle East and North Africa Businesswomen’s Summit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), to help expand networks, build leadership skills, and share real-world experiences. In this effort to strengthen entrepreneurship among Arab women in the region, Hughes was joined by fourteen women in leadership from the U.S. and more than 250 businesswomen representing 17 Middle Eastern countries and territories. 6

On October 31, 2006, while in UAE, Hughes and Nancy Brinker, the founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, launched the U.S.-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research supported by the U.S. State Department’s Office of Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and Middle East Partnership Initiative. Other partners include the Komen Foundation, Johns Hopkins Medicine International, and other governmental, social, and medical organizations in the Middle East. 6

COVID-19

In a July 1, 2020 opinion piece written by Karen Hughes and published in the Washington Post, Hughes called her fellow Republicans selfish for shunning the use of masks during the COVID-19 outbreak. Hughes wrote that masking should not be a political issue but rather a public health practice. Hughes went on to say that then-President Donald Trump set a bad example for the country, leading many Republican governors to cite restrictions on personal liberty as a reason not to mask. She pointed out that protecting others by masking was a moral issue and an act of personal responsibility. 7

References

  1. “Karen P. Hughes.” George W. Bush White House Archives. Accessed March 22, 2024. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/hughes-bio.html.
  2. “About Us.” Americans for Carbon Dividends. Accessed March 22, 2024. https://afcd.org/about-us/.
  3.  Matthews, Christopher M. and Eaton, Collin. “Inside Exxon’s Strategy to Downplay Climate Change.” The Wall Street Journal, September 14, 2023. Accessed March 22, 2024. https://www.wsj.com/business/energy-oil/exxon-climate-change-documents-e2e9e6af.
  4. “Global Leadership.” Burson-Marsteller. Archived from the original July 8, 2011. Accessed March 22, 2024. http://www.burson-marsteller.com/About_Us/Global_Leadership/Lists/Leadership/DispForm.aspx?ID=34.
  5. Roberts, David. “Energy lobbyists have a new PAC to push for a carbon tax. Wait, what?” Vox, June 23, 2018. Accessed March 22, 2024. https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/6/22/17487488/carbon-tax-dividend-trent-lott-john-breaux.
  6. “Under Secretary Karen Hughes and U.S. Businesswomen Traveling to the UAE.” U.S. Department of State Archive, Ocotber 26, 2006. Accessed March 22, 2024. https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2006/75167.htm.
  7. Hughes, Karen. “Opinion: I’ve watched in alarm as my fellow Republicans shun masks. It’s selfish.” The Washington Post, July 1, 2020. Accessed March 22, 2024. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/01/mask-wearing-isnt-political-test-its-moral-test-my-fellow-republicans-are-failing/.
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