Karl Rove is deputy chief of staff and chief political strategist to President George W. Bush. He has been, to use President Bush’s term, "the architect" of the President’s two successful Presidential elections.Rove began his political career with the College Republicans, which he chaired from 1973 to 1974. For the next few years he worked in various Republican Party circles and assisted George H.W. Bush’s 1980 vice-presidential campaign.
In 1981, he founded a direct mail consulting firm, Karl Rove & Co., based out of Austin, Texas. This firm’s first clients included Texas Governor Bill Clements and Congressman Phil Gramm. In 1993, Rove began advising George W. Bush’s gubernatorial campaign. He continued, however, to operate his consulting business until 1999, when he sold the firm to focus his efforts on Bush’s first bid for the Presidency.
He has served as a member of the Board of International Broadcasting, which oversees operations of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, and served on the board of the McDonald Observatory. He also taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and in the Journalism Department at the University of Texas at Austin.
He is married and is the father of one son.