C. J. Cregg
Encyclopedia
Claudia Jean "C. J." Cregg is a fictional character
played by Allison Janney
on the television serial drama The West Wing
. From the beginning of the series until the sixth season, she is White House Press Secretary
in the administration of President Josiah Bartlet
. After that, she is White House Chief of Staff
until the last episode, when Bartlet's successor is inaugurated. The character is supposedly loosely based on Clinton
Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers
, who served as a consultant to the show.
, casting for C.J. Cregg was a problem. While everybody had "fallen in love" with Allison Janney, she, like every other actor who had been cast at the time, was Caucasian
. The cast's lack of racial diversity was making the network nervous, and another "wonderfully talented" Afro-Guyanese
actress (CCH Pounder
) was also reading very well for the role of C.J. "Still," says Sorkin, "When we closed our eyes at night we wanted Allison. So we cast Allison."
The character is loosely based on Dee Dee Myers
, a show consultant and former press secretary to the Clinton administration. One particular storyline in the episode "Lord John Marbury"
, in which C.J. is left in the dark about troop movement on the Indo-Pakistani border, is taken directly from one of Myers' experiences in the White House. Kept out of the loop with regard to the 1993 assassination attempt on former President George H. W. Bush
, Myers assured the press that there would be no more news coming out of the White House hours before the United States bombed Baghdad
. Myers was upset with the resolution of this episode's plot, in which Leo McGarry
brushes off C.J.'s anger by saying, "Just tell them you spoke without being informed." "This is like saying, 'I'm an idiot; you can't trust me,'" says Myers. "I wanted to make her more angry. I wanted there to be some resolution, in order to preserve the strength of her character, where she calls 'the boys' on the rug." Sorkin admits that he "dropped the ball" in this instance.
C.J.'s lip-synched performance of "The Jackal" by Ronny Jordan
in the episode "Six Meetings Before Lunch
" was written in after Sorkin witnessed Janney doing "some impromptu lip-synching" in her trailer on the set.
. Her father, Talmidge Cregg, was a math teacher at a local high school. Her mother had died some time ago and Talmidge subsequently remarried twice, most recently a fellow teacher named Molly Lapham. C.J. also has at least two older brothers, one of whom has a teenage daughter named Hogan (whose name is the result of the brothers being "golf-crazies"). Several jokes are made about C.J.'s height, particularly in an episode in which Big Bird
visits the White House.
A National Merit Scholar, C.J. earned a master's degree in political science
from the University of California, Berkeley
; her undergraduate major and institution have never been disclosed. She was making $550,000 a year for her work at Triton Day, a prominent California public relations firm, before coming to work for Bartlet's 1998 presidential campaign for $600 a week ($31,200 a year). Coincidentally, she is fired from that job on the same day that Toby Ziegler
comes to California to ask her to join the Bartlet campaign; He tells her Josiah Bartlet
was impressed by the work C.J. had done at EMILY's List
, then admits Bartlet has never heard of her: she is his and Leo McGarry
's choice. As White House Press Secretary, C.J. is sharp, well-spoken and witty. She is less than pleased to discover that her Secret Service
codename is "Flamingo", a bird which C.J. describes as being "ridiculous-looking". On festive occasions, C.J. can be persuaded to perform her dead-on lip synch of "The Jackal" by Ronny Jordan
; this was originally Allison Janney's party piece, which was written into the series by Aaron Sorkin
. Janney's actual performance of "The Jackal" was deemed too "good" by Sorkin during initial production, and she was advised to make it more "awkward" to fit the character for the final screen version.
During the third season, C.J. receives a series of death threats, which leads to her being placed under the protection of Secret Service agent Simon Donovan (played by Mark Harmon
), with whom she becomes romantically involved. Shortly after going off-duty, Donovan is shot and killed after becoming caught up in the armed robbery of a New York City grocery store in the episode "Posse Comitatus". C.J. has also had a long on-again, off-again relationship
with The Washington Posts
White House correspondent Danny Concannon
, although C.J. feels that they could not date because it would be a conflict of interest. In the 7th season many references are made to their dating.
In the fifth season, it is revealed that C.J. had a one-night stand with Vice President John Hoynes
, who was married at the time, approximately four years before the Bartlet Administration entered the White House. She tells Toby that she considers that night to be one of the greatest mistakes of her life. This past history is foreshadowed a few times in the series, years before the revelation. Also, during the fifth season episode "Access", a documentary episode that was scripted to have aired after the Bartlet administration left office, it was revealed that C.J. Cregg remains the only woman to have served two terms as press secretary.
C.J. succeeds Leo McGarry as White House Chief of Staff
in the sixth season (halfway through Bartlet's second term) after McGarry suffers a heart attack at Camp David
. She is recommended by Leo himself, giving the President a list of "just one name". There has never been a female White House Chief of Staff in the real U.S. Government—it is unknown if the same is true in The West Wing fictional universe. It would also be the first time any press secretary was elevated to the position. C.J. is at first criticized on her appointment to the position of Chief of Staff because of her relative lack of foreign policy experience. While her subsequent performance as the Chief of Staff appears at first to be procedural in nature and lacking the independent advice which McGarry brought to the position, C.J. grows into the position. The episode The Wake Up Call
marks a significant turning point in C.J.'s relationship with both the President and her new role, when she tells Bartlet he needs to trust her to do her job after an international crisis involving Iran. By the seventh season, C.J. is as confident with her new role as she was with her old, and has learned to gauge the President's mood and when he will be most receptive of her ideas. She successfully navigates the murky waters of UN politics, setting up a UN Security Council resolution to end the (real-life) humanitarian crisis in Darfur
, Sudan
.
After the election of Matt Santos
as President of the United States, C.J. is offered any position she wants in the incoming Santos Administration by Chief of Staff-designate
Josh Lyman
and is later offered by President-elect Santos a job as Special Counselor to the President. This is only one of many job offers she receives, having already been offered several positions in the private sector
, notably an offer by Frank Hollis (a Bill Gates
/Ted Turner
-like character) to manage a new $10 billion charitable organization. Her response to Hollis on how best to spend his money is to start by building proper roads in Africa in order to make it easier to get food and services to people in need and if there is money left over to start on the plumbing. Matt Santos asks her to join him as a Special Counselor to the President so as to help him with the situation in Kazhakstan. She feels obligated to take the position in the Santos Administration, but is convinced by Danny Concannon to do what she wants, which is to take the Hollis job.
In the opening episode of the final season a flash-forward to the time of the dedication of the Bartlet presidential library
, three years after the end of his presidency, it is revealed that C.J. lives in Santa Monica
, California with husband Danny Concannon and their child.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
played by Allison Janney
Allison Janney
Allison Brooks Janney is an American actress, best known for her role as C.J. Cregg on the television series The West Wing.- Personal life :...
on the television serial drama The West Wing
The West Wing (TV series)
The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
. From the beginning of the series until the sixth season, she is White House Press Secretary
White House Press Secretary
The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
in the administration of President Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet is a fictional character played by Martin Sheen on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is President of the United States for the entire series until the last episode, when his successor is inaugurated...
. After that, she is White House Chief of Staff
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 current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
until the last episode, when Bartlet's successor is inaugurated. The character is supposedly loosely based on Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers
Dee Dee Myers
Dee Dee Myers served as White House Press Secretary for the first two years of the Clinton administration, from January 20, 1993 to December 22, 1994.-Early life and education:...
, who served as a consultant to the show.
Creation and development
According to series creator Aaron SorkinAaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
, casting for C.J. Cregg was a problem. While everybody had "fallen in love" with Allison Janney, she, like every other actor who had been cast at the time, was Caucasian
Caucasian race
The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
. The cast's lack of racial diversity was making the network nervous, and another "wonderfully talented" Afro-Guyanese
Afro-Guyanese
Afro-Guyanese people are the inhabitants of Guyana of Black African origin...
actress (CCH Pounder
CCH Pounder
Carol Christine Hilaria Pounder , known professionally as C. C. H. Pounder , is a Guyanese-American film and television actress...
) was also reading very well for the role of C.J. "Still," says Sorkin, "When we closed our eyes at night we wanted Allison. So we cast Allison."
The character is loosely based on Dee Dee Myers
Dee Dee Myers
Dee Dee Myers served as White House Press Secretary for the first two years of the Clinton administration, from January 20, 1993 to December 22, 1994.-Early life and education:...
, a show consultant and former press secretary to the Clinton administration. One particular storyline in the episode "Lord John Marbury"
Lord John Marbury (The West Wing)
"Lord John Marbury" is the 11th episode of The West Wing. Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was quoted in Time magazine as saying this episode had one of the best expositions on foreign policy she'd seen on TV.-Plot:...
, in which C.J. is left in the dark about troop movement on the Indo-Pakistani border, is taken directly from one of Myers' experiences in the White House. Kept out of the loop with regard to the 1993 assassination attempt on former President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
, Myers assured the press that there would be no more news coming out of the White House hours before the United States bombed Baghdad
Baghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. Myers was upset with the resolution of this episode's plot, in which Leo McGarry
Leo McGarry
Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by John Spencer on the television serial drama The West Wing. The role earned Spencer the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. McGarry's character, the former United States Secretary of Labor, begins the series as the White...
brushes off C.J.'s anger by saying, "Just tell them you spoke without being informed." "This is like saying, 'I'm an idiot; you can't trust me,'" says Myers. "I wanted to make her more angry. I wanted there to be some resolution, in order to preserve the strength of her character, where she calls 'the boys' on the rug." Sorkin admits that he "dropped the ball" in this instance.
C.J.'s lip-synched performance of "The Jackal" by Ronny Jordan
Ronny Jordan
Ronny Jordan is a guitarist at the forefront of the acid jazz movement at the end of the twentieth century. Additionally, Jordan can be included in several other jazz genres such as urban jazz, jazz funk, crossover jazz, and smooth jazz...
in the episode "Six Meetings Before Lunch
Six Meetings Before Lunch
"Six Meetings Before Lunch" is the 18th episode of The West Wing.-Plot:While Toby and the rest of the White House staff celebrate the confirmation of Roberto Mendoza to the Supreme Court, Josh discusses slavery reparations with a civil-rights attorney, and Sam and Mallory battle over school vouchers...
" was written in after Sorkin witnessed Janney doing "some impromptu lip-synching" in her trailer on the set.
Character biography
C.J., a Catholic, is originally from Dayton, OhioDayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
. Her father, Talmidge Cregg, was a math teacher at a local high school. Her mother had died some time ago and Talmidge subsequently remarried twice, most recently a fellow teacher named Molly Lapham. C.J. also has at least two older brothers, one of whom has a teenage daughter named Hogan (whose name is the result of the brothers being "golf-crazies"). Several jokes are made about C.J.'s height, particularly in an episode in which Big Bird
Big Bird
Big Bird is a protagonist of the children's television show Sesame Street. Big Bird, like many of the other Sesame Street characters, is a Muppet character. He is sometimes referred to simply as "Bird" by his friends....
visits the White House.
A National Merit Scholar, C.J. earned a master's degree in political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
from the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
; her undergraduate major and institution have never been disclosed. She was making $550,000 a year for her work at Triton Day, a prominent California public relations firm, before coming to work for Bartlet's 1998 presidential campaign for $600 a week ($31,200 a year). Coincidentally, she is fired from that job on the same day that Toby Ziegler
Toby Ziegler
Tobias Zachary 'Toby' Ziegler is played by Richard Schiff on the television serial drama The West Wing. For most of the series' duration he is White House Communications Director.-Creation and development:...
comes to California to ask her to join the Bartlet campaign; He tells her Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Bartlet
Josiah Edward "Jed" Bartlet is a fictional character played by Martin Sheen on the television serial drama The West Wing. He is President of the United States for the entire series until the last episode, when his successor is inaugurated...
was impressed by the work C.J. had done at EMILY's List
EMILY's List
EMILY's List is a political action committee in the United States that aims to help elect female candidates to office. It was founded by Ellen Malcolm in 1984....
, then admits Bartlet has never heard of her: she is his and Leo McGarry
Leo McGarry
Leo Thomas McGarry is a fictional character played by John Spencer on the television serial drama The West Wing. The role earned Spencer the 2002 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. McGarry's character, the former United States Secretary of Labor, begins the series as the White...
's choice. As White House Press Secretary, C.J. is sharp, well-spoken and witty. She is less than pleased to discover that her Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
codename is "Flamingo", a bird which C.J. describes as being "ridiculous-looking". On festive occasions, C.J. can be persuaded to perform her dead-on lip synch of "The Jackal" by Ronny Jordan
Ronny Jordan
Ronny Jordan is a guitarist at the forefront of the acid jazz movement at the end of the twentieth century. Additionally, Jordan can be included in several other jazz genres such as urban jazz, jazz funk, crossover jazz, and smooth jazz...
; this was originally Allison Janney's party piece, which was written into the series by Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Sorkin
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an Academy and Emmy award winning American screenwriter, producer, and playwright, whose works include A Few Good Men, The American President, The West Wing, Sports Night, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Social Network, and Moneyball.After graduating from Syracuse...
. Janney's actual performance of "The Jackal" was deemed too "good" by Sorkin during initial production, and she was advised to make it more "awkward" to fit the character for the final screen version.
During the third season, C.J. receives a series of death threats, which leads to her being placed under the protection of Secret Service agent Simon Donovan (played by Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon
Mark Harmon is an American actor who has been starring in American television programs and films since the mid-1970s, after a career as a collegiate football player with the UCLA Bruins. Since 2003, Harmon has starred as Leroy Jethro Gibbs in the CBS series NCIS.-Early life:Harmon was born Thomas...
), with whom she becomes romantically involved. Shortly after going off-duty, Donovan is shot and killed after becoming caught up in the armed robbery of a New York City grocery store in the episode "Posse Comitatus". C.J. has also had a long on-again, off-again relationship
On-again, off-again relationship
An on-again, off-again relationship is a form of casual relationship, usually sexual, between two people. It is where the couple concerned do not see their discontinuous affair as an ongoing or formal relationship...
with The Washington Posts
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
White House correspondent Danny Concannon
Danny Concannon
Daniel "Danny" Concannon is a fictional White House correspondent for the Washington Post played by Timothy Busfield on the television serial drama The West Wing. Danny first appeared in the third episode of Season 1, "A Proportional Response," where he mentioned that he had been a White House...
, although C.J. feels that they could not date because it would be a conflict of interest. In the 7th season many references are made to their dating.
In the fifth season, it is revealed that C.J. had a one-night stand with Vice President John Hoynes
John Hoynes
John Hoynes is a fictional character played by Tim Matheson on the American television series The West Wing. Hoynes is Vice President of the United States during the first four seasons of the show....
, who was married at the time, approximately four years before the Bartlet Administration entered the White House. She tells Toby that she considers that night to be one of the greatest mistakes of her life. This past history is foreshadowed a few times in the series, years before the revelation. Also, during the fifth season episode "Access", a documentary episode that was scripted to have aired after the Bartlet administration left office, it was revealed that C.J. Cregg remains the only woman to have served two terms as press secretary.
C.J. succeeds Leo McGarry as White House Chief of Staff
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 current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
in the sixth season (halfway through Bartlet's second term) after McGarry suffers a heart attack at Camp David
Camp David
Camp David is the country retreat of the President of the United States and his guests. It is located in low wooded hills about 60 mi north-northwest of Washington, D.C., on the property of Catoctin Mountain Park in unincorporated Frederick County, Maryland, near Thurmont, at an elevation of...
. She is recommended by Leo himself, giving the President a list of "just one name". There has never been a female White House Chief of Staff in the real U.S. Government—it is unknown if the same is true in The West Wing fictional universe. It would also be the first time any press secretary was elevated to the position. C.J. is at first criticized on her appointment to the position of Chief of Staff because of her relative lack of foreign policy experience. While her subsequent performance as the Chief of Staff appears at first to be procedural in nature and lacking the independent advice which McGarry brought to the position, C.J. grows into the position. The episode The Wake Up Call
The Wake Up Call
-Plot:The episode opens with the President listening to opera in the Oval Office and C.J. tells the President to go to bed by 8:30pm and gets Margaret to move his morning wake up call to later in the morning....
marks a significant turning point in C.J.'s relationship with both the President and her new role, when she tells Bartlet he needs to trust her to do her job after an international crisis involving Iran. By the seventh season, C.J. is as confident with her new role as she was with her old, and has learned to gauge the President's mood and when he will be most receptive of her ideas. She successfully navigates the murky waters of UN politics, setting up a UN Security Council resolution to end the (real-life) humanitarian crisis in Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
, Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
.
After the election of Matt Santos
Matt Santos
Matthew Vincente "Matt" Santos is a fictional character on the American television show The West Wing, played by Jimmy Smits. His initial appearance is as a Democratic U.S. Representative from Houston, Texas. According to West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie, Santos was based on the then...
as President of the United States, C.J. is offered any position she wants in the incoming Santos Administration by Chief of Staff-designate
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 current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley.-History:...
Josh Lyman
Josh Lyman
Joshua "Josh" Lyman is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television drama The West Wing. For the majority of the series, he was White House Deputy Chief of Staff in the Josiah Bartlet administration...
and is later offered by President-elect Santos a job as Special Counselor to the President. This is only one of many job offers she receives, having already been offered several positions in the private sector
Private sector
In economics, the private sector is that part of the economy, sometimes referred to as the citizen sector, which is run by private individuals or groups, usually as a means of enterprise for profit, and is not controlled by the state...
, notably an offer by Frank Hollis (a Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
/Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
-like character) to manage a new $10 billion charitable organization. Her response to Hollis on how best to spend his money is to start by building proper roads in Africa in order to make it easier to get food and services to people in need and if there is money left over to start on the plumbing. Matt Santos asks her to join him as a Special Counselor to the President so as to help him with the situation in Kazhakstan. She feels obligated to take the position in the Santos Administration, but is convinced by Danny Concannon to do what she wants, which is to take the Hollis job.
In the opening episode of the final season a flash-forward to the time of the dedication of the Bartlet presidential library
Presidential library
In the United States, the Presidential library system is a nationwide network of 13 libraries administered by the Office of Presidential Libraries, which is part of the National Archives and Records Administration...
, three years after the end of his presidency, it is revealed that C.J. lives in Santa Monica
Santa Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
, California with husband Danny Concannon and their child.
See also
- The West WingThe West Wing (TV series)The West Wing is an American television serial drama created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999 to May 14, 2006...
- List of characters on The West Wing
- List of politicians on The West Wing
- List of The West Wing episodes