Leo McGarry

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Leo Thomas McGarry
John Spencer as Leo McGarry
First appearance	Pilot
Last appearance	The Cold spoilers below
Statistics
Occupation	White House Chief of Staff (Seasons 1-6) Senior Counselor to the President (Season 6) Democratic Vice-Presidential Candidate (Season 7)
Family	Josephine McGarry (sister), Elizabeth (sister)
Spouse	Jenny McGarry (divorced early in Season 1)
Children	Mallory O'Brien
Portrayed by	John Spencer
Created by	Aaron Sorkin

Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by John Spencer on the television serial drama The West Wing. The role earned Spencer the 2003 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. McGarry, the former United States Secretary of Labor, begins the series as the White House Chief of Staff. He is President Josiah Bartlet's best friend and a father figure to many of the Senior Staff, most notably Josh Lyman.

[edit] Character biography

Leo McGarry is from Chicago, Illinois, though there seems to be some family connection to (likely one or more of his parents were born in) Boston, Massachusetts. He had at least two sisters, Elizabeth and Josephine, the latter serving as a school district superintendent. It is strongly suggested that McGarry earned either his undergraduate or law degree from the University of Michigan. McGarry is a recovering alcoholic and valium addict. Despite these addictions it was his workaholic attitude towards his job as Chief of Staff that contributed to his divorce during the first season from wife Jenny. McGarry is an Air Force veteran and has achieved the rank of colonel ^{[citation needed]}, having flown F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bombers in the Vietnam War. Prior to working in the White House, McGarry had been the Secretary of Labor during a presidency prior to the beginning of the show. He also speaks fluent Spanish. McGarry had amassed significant wealth during his life in the private sector as a member of the board of directors of a prominent defense company. A running joke on the show is that McGarry has the wealth necessary to bail out the government when funds are thin for new projects. Remarks are also occasionally made as to the extreme quality of his wardrobe (see Savile Row).

McGarry and ex-wife Jenny have a daughter, Mallory, who is a recurring character and was once a potential love interest for Sam Seaborn. Sam and Mallory spend most of their time arguing; Mallory usually picks the fights just to have Sam argue with her. After Sam left the White House, Mallory is largely absent from the show, although it was revealed she married and had a son.

Having resigned from his post as Secretary of Labor sometime in mid-1997, McGarry goes on to New Hampshire to persuade Governor Josiah Bartlet, an old friend, to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Having so persuaded Bartlet, McGarry becomes his campaign manager and General Chairman of the "Bartlet For America" campaign, hiring such top political talent as Josh Lyman, Toby Ziegler, C.J. Cregg, and Sam Seaborn to work for the campaign. Eventually, Governor Bartlet, who was considered to be an insurgent candidate by the media, defeats Senator John Hoynes of Texas (whom Bartlet picks as his vice presidential nominee to balance the ticket) for the nomination and goes on to win the presidency.

As President Bartlet's top advisor, McGarry has an office adjacent to the Oval Office and sits in with the president in the Situation Room. McGarry is very involved in the formation of policy and the day-to-day operations of the White House and its staff. On more than one occasion, McGarry is said to be the man who "runs the country", and is treated with great respect by people on both sides of the aisle.

In season six, during a Middle East peace negotiation at Camp David, McGarry finds it impossible to support Bartlet's position, and (in a very tense moment) Bartlet and McGarry come to an agreement that McGarry would be resigning at the first available opportunity. Minutes after the conversation, McGarry suffered a heart attack and collapsed while walking alone on the grounds. He is resuscitated, survives, and later returns to work after Bartlet's last State of the Union Address in his new role as Senior Counselor to the President. McGarry is succeeded as Chief Of Staff by C.J. Cregg, up to this point, the White House Press Secretary.

However, Bartlet asks him to run the Democratic National Convention when it seems likely to deadlock. The Democratic Party's eventual presidential nominee, Congressman Matt Santos selects McGarry as his vice presidential nominee. This is particularly ironic, because McGarry had earlier repeatedly insisted that Santos drop out of the race for the sake of party unity.

During the ensuing campaign, the press and others tend to refer to McGarry as "Mr. McGarry" as opposed to "Secretary McGarry" as would be the standard protocol for a former cabinet member.

On Election Night, McGarry goes up to his hotel room in Houston to take a nap before the results come in. McGarry collapses in his hotel bathroom of an apparent heart attack. He is found by Annabeth Schott who rushes him to the hospital, where he is pronounced dead. McGarry's death comes ninety minutes before the polls close in California and other western states, thus giving some voters this information prior to casting their vote. Despite McGarry's death, the Santos-McGarry ticket narrowly wins the election over the Vinick-Sullivan ticket by a 30,000 vote margin in Nevada and McGarry posthumosly becomes the Vice President-Elect after Santos' victory.

McGarry's funeral is held at an unnamed Catholic church, though the funeral was filmed at The Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, MD. President Josiah Bartlet, President-elect Matthew Santos, Josh Lyman, Charlie Young, former DNC head Barry Goodwin, and McGarry's unnamed son-in-law serving as pallbearers. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

McGarry appeared in two of the five episodes which had been filmed, but not yet aired, at the time of Spencer's death on December 16, 2005. The show's producers decided to let those episodes air in his memory. The character's death was written in response to the death of the actor, and McGarry is discovered dead in his hotel room offscreen. Though he is not seen again onscreen (in flashback or otherwise) after his death, his presence is felt in the series finale when his daughter presents a gift to President Bartlet that she found in Leo's posessions. In the show's final scene, Bartlet opens the gift to find the napkin with the words "Bartlet For America", which McGarry had written to introduce to Bartlet the idea of running for president.

[edit] Correlation to the real world

In the real world, McGarry's approximately seven-year tenure as Chief of Staff would be rather extraordinary. The average tenure since 1945 has been approximately two years — however this may not be true in the West Wing universe. McGarry would also be considered historically a very powerful Chief of Staff - comparisons could be drawn to H. R. Haldeman (often called the "second most powerful man in America" during Richard Nixon's administration) in terms of influence and closeness to the President.

There appear to be many similarities between McGarry's character and real life Vice-President Dick Cheney. Both were former Cabinet Secretaries and White House Chiefs of Staff, and both are older and considered to be more experienced than their respective running-mates. It seems that Santos' choice of McGarry as his running-mate is due to his own lack of experience in foreign affairs and security issues, whereas McGarry's deep understanding and expertise of the issues is shown in his service during the Bartlet administration. This was also true of Cheney when he was selected to be George W. Bush's running-mate, as he too lacked experience in these areas while Cheney served as Chief of Staff to President Gerald Ford and later Secretary of Defense in the administration of George H. W. Bush. McGarry's and Cheney's health was also a factor during their respective campaigns as both suffer from heart conditions.

Preceded by: Unknown	White House Chief of Staff, The West Wing 1999–2005	Succeeded by: C.J. Cregg
Preceded by: John Hoynes	Democratic Party Vice Presidential candidate, The West Wing 2006 (won)	Succeeded by: Unknown

The Bartlet Administration
The President: Josiah Bartlet First Lady: Abigail Bartlet
The Vice President John Hoynes (Seasons 1–4) Bob Russell (Seasons 5–7) Chief of Staff to the Vice President Will Bailey (Seasons 5–7) National Security Advisor Nancy McNally (Seasons 2–7) Deputy National Security Advisor Kate Harper (Seasons 5–7) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Percy Fitzwallace (Seasons 1–5) General Nicholas Alexander (Seasons 6–7)	White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (Seasons 1–5) C.J. Cregg (Seasons 6–7) Assistant to the Chief of Staff Margaret Hooper (Seasons 1–7) Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Seasons 1–6) Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff Donna Moss (Seasons 1–6) Presidential Secretary Delores Landingham (Seasons 1–2) Deborah Fiderer (Seasons 4–7) Personal Aide to the President Charlie Young (Seasons 1–6) Chief of Staff to the First Lady Amy Gardner (Seasons 4–5)	White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Seasons 1–7) Will Bailey (Season 7) Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn (Seasons 1–4) Will Bailey (Seasons 4–5) White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg (Seasons 1–5) Deputy Press Secretary Annabeth Schott (Season 6) Media Director Mandy Hampton (Season 1)
These are the main characters on The West Wing. For a longer and more complete list of characters, see List of characters on The West Wing.

[edit] See also

• The West Wing
• List of characters on The West Wing
• List of politicians on The West Wing
• List of The West Wing episodes