Jennifer Fitzgerald

Jennifer Fitzgerald (born Jennifer Ann Isobel Patteson-Knight in 1932) is a British-born retired U.S. diplomat. During her career, she worked for George H. W. Bush in several different capacities.
Fitzgerald first met Bush in Washington in 1974 during the Watergate scandal, when she was working for one of the officials of the Republican National Committee of which he was chairman. She left a White House position to become Bush's secretary (on the recommendation of Dean Burch) after he was appointed United States Ambassador to China. Bush wanted Fitzgerald to act as a "buffer" between his office and the State Department, in a role he envisaged as similar to that of Tap Bennett at the United Nations.
Bush valued Fitzgerald among other things for her encyclopedic memory, sound political instincts and British connections (which secured him an introduction to visiting Conservative Party members of parliament) . Following the victory of Democratic Party candidate Jimmy Carter in the 1976 presidential election, Fitzgerald was the only person to accompany Bush (in his capacity as outgoing director of the Central Intelligence Agency) to a private meeting with the incoming President and his Vice-President Walter Mondale to discuss the change of power.
During the presidency of Ronald Reagan (1980 - 1988), Fitzgerald served as Bush's executive assistant, Fitzgerald's file was empty, however.

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