White House Chief of Staff

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Joshua B. Bolten, the current White House Chief of Staff.

The White House Chief of Staff is the highest-ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President. The U.S. President's Chief of Staff is a very powerful position, sometimes dubbed "The Second-Most Powerful Man in Washington".

The current White House Chief of Staff is Joshua B. Bolten, who has served in this position since April 14, 2006.

[edit] Duties and history

The duties of the White House Chief of Staff vary greatly from one administration to another. However, he/she is responsible for overseeing the actions of the White House staff, managing the President's schedule, and deciding who is allowed to meet with the President. Because of these duties, the Chief of Staff has at various times been dubbed "The Gatekeeper", and, "The co-President".

Originally, the duties now performed by the Chief of Staff belonged to the Secretary to the President [1]. In 1946, in response to the rapid growth of the U.S. government's executive branch, the position of Assistant to the President of the United States was established, and charged with the affairs of the White House. In 1961, the president's pre-eminent assistant was designated White House Chief of Staff. "Assistant to the President" became a rank generally shared by the Chief of Staff with such senior aides as Deputy Chiefs of Staff, the White House Counsel, the White House Press Secretary, and others. Prior to the creation of this post, the Chief of Staff's job title was traditionally Appointments Secretary, as with Franklin Delano Roosevelt's aide Edwin "Pa" Watson.

Not every President has had a formal Chief of Staff (e.g., John F. Kennedy did not). Due to the stressful and demanding nature of the job, the average term-of-service for a White House Chief of Staff is a little under two and a half years. John R. Steelman, under Harry S. Truman, was the last Chief of Staff to serve for an entire presidential administration. Steelman also holds the record for longest-serving Chief of Staff (6 years). Andrew Card and Sherman Adams tie for second-longest (5 years each).

Most White House Chiefs of Staff are former politicians, and many continue their political careers in other senior roles. Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff Alexander Haig became Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan. Gerald Ford's Chief of Staff Dick Cheney became a U.S. Representative for Wyoming, Secretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush and Vice President of the United States of America under George W. Bush. Donald Rumsfeld, also Chief of Staff for Gerald Ford, was Secretary of Defense under both Gerald Ford and George W. Bush.

Some have suggested that a powerful Chief of Staff with a "hands-off" president (who decides not to become involved in the minutiæ of government), can become a de facto prime minister. Such prime ministers exist in some governmental systems, such as France's and Russia's: The prime minister runs the government (operations-wise), while the president remains somewhat aloof from the political process, but personally handling policy matters. Under Ronald Reagan, Donald Regan was seen by many as a prime minister-style Chief of Staff following James Baker. Howard Baker, who succeeded Regan, was critical of this system and what is sometimes known as the "Imperial Presidency."

By contrast, Andrew Card, President George W. Bush's first Chief of Staff, was not regarded as being as powerful. Some have speculated that this was due to Card being "overshadowed" by the influence of "the architect" of the President's meteoric political rise -- Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff (the official titles given to him by Bush) Karl Rove [2]. Similarly, President Bill Clinton's Chiefs of Staff were not particularly powerful.

[edit] Fictional portrayal

• Actor John Spencer played this role for 5 seasons as Democrat Leo McGarry on the NBC drama The West Wing, with character C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) later serving in the role (after McGarry's fictional and Spencer's real-life death). Television critics and political analysts alike have praised Spencer's performance as Chief of Staff to President Josiah Bartlet as an accurate portrayal of the challenging position. Bradley Whitford, who portrayed character Josh Lyman, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bartlet and later Chief of Staff to President Matthew Santos on The West Wing, also played a fictional White House Chief of Staff in the movie My Fellow Americans.
• 24 has portrayed five White House Chiefs of Staff:
  • Jude Ciccolella as Mike Novick, assisting President David Palmer and later President Charles Logan.
  • D.B. Woodside as Wayne Palmer, also assisting President David Palmer (his brother).
  • John Allen Nelson as Walt Cummings, also assisting President Charles Logan.
  • Peter MacNicol as Tom Lennox, assisting the aforementioned Wayne Palmer after his election to the Presidency.
• Actor Harry J. Lennix played Chief of Staff Jim Gardner on the television show Commander in Chief.
• Actor Martin Sheen played Chief of Staff A.J. MacInerney in the 1995 film The American President before portraying President Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing.
• Actor Frank Langella played Chief of Staff Bob Alexander in the 1993 film Dave.
• Actor and future U.S. Senator from Tennessee Fred Dalton Thompson as White House Chief of Staff Harry Sargent in the 1993 film In the Line of Fire
• The 2001-2006 books by Joel C. Rosenberg portray main character Bob Corsetti as the White House Chief of Staff.
• Actor Tony Goldwyn played Chief of Staff Fletcher Coal in the 1993 film The Pelican Brief
• Actor Paul Guilfoyle played Chief of Staff Lloyd "Shep" Shepard in the 1997 film Air Force One.
• Actor John Barron played Chief of Staff 'Deacon' in the 1982 TV series Whoops Apocalypse.

[edit] Deputy

The Chief of Staff is assisted by one or more Deputy White House Chiefs of Staff. Joel Kaplan and Joe Hagin currently hold this title. Hagin is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Mr. Kaplan for Policy. Karl Rove preceded Kaplan in this role until April 19, 2006 when (then-new) Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten added his former Deputy Director of the OMB to the Deputies list. Rove left the White House officially on August 31, 2007.

[edit] List of White House Chiefs of Staff

v • d • e White House Chiefs of Staff Steelman • Adams • Persons • M Watson • Haldeman • Haig • Rumsfeld • Cheney • Jordan • J Watson • J Baker • Regan • H Baker • Duberstein • Sununu • Skinner • J Baker • McLarty • Panetta • Bowles • Podesta • Card • Bolten

v • d • e Agencies under the Executive Office of the President White House Chief of Staff · Deputy White House Chief of Staff White House Press Secretary · White House Counsel · White House Office of Presidential Communications · White House Office of Presidential Speechwriting · White House Office · White House Office of the Executive Clerk · Office of Management and Budget · National Security Council · Homeland Security Council · Office of the United States Trade Representative · Office of National Drug Control Policy · Council of Economic Advisers  · Council on Environmental Quality · Domestic Policy Council · National Economic Council · Office of Administration · Office of Advance · Office of Scheduling · White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives · United States Office of National AIDS Policy · Office of Science and Technology Policy · President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board · President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board · USA Freedom Corps · White House Military Office