It was November 1976, a couple of days after Jimmy Carter won the Presidency, and George K. Regan Jr. was packing his bags to go to Washington. Regan had worked as a media advance man for the Carter campaign, and Jody Powell, Carter’s chief spokesman, had offered him a job in the new administration’s press office. Regan had decided leave his job as press secretary to Boston Mayor Kevin White and accept Powell’s offer.
White, of course, had briefly contended for the Democratic nomination that Carter eventually won. After the Boston mayor dropped out of the race, Regan joined Carter’s team, where he met Powell.
As Regan was preparing to leave for DC, he got a call from White, who apparently realized that he couldn’t let his top communications guy go off to the White House.
“He said, ‘do you want to be a minnow in the deep ocean or a big fish in a small pond and be able to make a difference?’ “ Regan recalled Tuesday.
The question had its intended effect. White, who famously disliked talking to the media, persuaded Regan to stick around—and put him right back to work planning a press conference that the mayor had grudgingly agreed to hold before leaving for a meeting of the US Mayors Conference.
And, White said to his once and future spokesman, “I don’t ever want to hear the name Jimmy Carter again!”
That didn’t deter Regan from maintaining a lifelong friendship with Powell, who died in 2009, and admiration for President Carter’s tireless humanitarian and diplomatic efforts.
“Jody Powell was my mentor,” Regan said Tuesday, while considering that had he stuck to his plan to go work for Powell’s White House Press Office, he would not have been part of much of White’s transformative work to modernize Boston, and likely would never have founded Regan Communications Group (which marked its 40th anniversary in 2024).
“So it all worked out for the best,” Regan said. “As was often the case, time proved Kevin right.”
