White House Chief of Staff
Encyclopedia
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
.
Originally, the duties now performed by the Chief of Staff belonged to the President's private secretary and was fulfilled by crucial confidants and advisers like George B. Cortelyou
, Joseph Tumulty, and Louis McHenry Howe
to presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt, respectively. The private secretary served as the President's de facto chief aide in a role that combined personal and professional assignments of highly delicate and demanding natures, requiring great skill and discretion. The job of gatekeeper and overseeing the President's schedule was separately delegated to the Appointments Secretary, as with FDR's aide Edwin "Pa" Watson.
From 1933 to 1939, as he greatly expanded the scope of the federal government's policies and powers in response to the Great Depression, Roosevelt relied on his "Brains Trust" of top advisers. Although working directly for the President, they were often appointed to vacant positions in agencies and departments, whence they drew their salaries since the White House lacked statutory or budgetary authority to create new staff positions. It wasn't until 1939, during Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term in office, that the foundations of the modern White House staff were created using a formal structure. Roosevelt was able to get Congress to approve the creation of the Executive Office of the President reporting directly to the President which included the White House Office
.
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. Charged with the affairs of the White House it was the immediate predecessor to the modern Chief of Staff. It was in 1953, under Republican
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
, that the president's pre-eminent assistant was designated the 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. This new system didn't catch on straight away. Democrats
Kennedy and Johnson still relied on their Appointments Secretaries instead and it was not until the Nixon administration that the Chief of Staff become a permanent fixture in the White House.
The average term-of-service for a White House Chief of Staff is a little under 2.5 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 (six years). Andrew Card
and Sherman Adams
tie for second-longest (five years each).
Most White House Chiefs of Staff are former politicians, and many continue their political careers in other senior roles. Lyndon Johnson's Chief of Staff W. Marvin Watson
became Postmaster General
later in LBJ's term. Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff Alexander Haig
became Secretary of State
under Reagan. Gerald Ford's Chief of Staff Dick Cheney
later became a U.S. Representative for Wyoming, Secretary of Defense
under George H. W. Bush and Vice President
under George W. Bush. Donald Rumsfeld
was another Chief of Staff for Ford and subsequently served as Secretary of Defense both in the Ford administration and decades later in the George W. Bush administration. Rahm Emanuel
left the House of Representatives to become Barack Obama's chief of staff and subsequently became mayor of Chicago
.
It is possible that a powerful Chief of Staff with a "hands-off" president (who decides not to become involved in the minutiae of government), can become a de facto
Prime Minister. Such prime ministers exist in some governmental systems: The prime minister runs the government (operations-wise), while the president remains somewhat aloof from the political process, but personally handling policy matters.
Richard Nixon
's first Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, garnered a reputation in Washington for the iron hand he wielded in the position—famously referring to himself as "the President's son-of-a-bitch," he was a rigid gatekeeper who would frequently meet with administration officials in place of the President, then report himself to Nixon on the officials' talking points. Journalist Bob Woodward
, in his books All the President's Men
and The Secret Man, wrote that many of his sources, including the famous Deep Throat
, displayed a genuine fear of Haldeman.
By contrast, Andrew Card
, President George W. Bush
's first Chief of Staff, was not regarded as being as powerful. It has been speculated that this was due to Card being "overshadowed" by the influence of Karl Rove
, the Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff who was "the architect" of Bush's political rise.
. During the George W. Bush Administration, Joel Kaplan
held this title 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. Joe Hagin
is the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.
Executive Office of the President of the United States
The Executive Office of the President consists of the immediate staff of the President of the United States, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the President. The EOP is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, currently William M. Daley...
and a senior aide to the President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
.
The current White House Chief of Staff is Bill Daley
William M. Daley
William Michael “Bill” Daley is an American lawyer and former banker and is the current White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama. He served as U.S...
.
History
The duties of the White House Chief of Staff vary greatly from one administration to another. However, the Chief of Staff has been 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 labeled "The Gatekeeper", "The Power Behind the Throne", and "The Co-President".Originally, the duties now performed by the Chief of Staff belonged to the President's private secretary and was fulfilled by crucial confidants and advisers like George B. Cortelyou
George B. Cortelyou
George Bruce Cortelyou was an American Presidential Cabinet secretary of the early 20th century.-Early life:...
, Joseph Tumulty, and Louis McHenry Howe
Louis McHenry Howe
Louis McHenry Howe was an intimate friend and close political advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He, along with Eleanor Roosevelt and Margurite "Missy" LeHand, was one of the few close associates who supported FDR throughout the most difficult stages of his personal and political...
to presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin Roosevelt, respectively. The private secretary served as the President's de facto chief aide in a role that combined personal and professional assignments of highly delicate and demanding natures, requiring great skill and discretion. The job of gatekeeper and overseeing the President's schedule was separately delegated to the Appointments Secretary, as with FDR's aide Edwin "Pa" Watson.
From 1933 to 1939, as he greatly expanded the scope of the federal government's policies and powers in response to the Great Depression, Roosevelt relied on his "Brains Trust" of top advisers. Although working directly for the President, they were often appointed to vacant positions in agencies and departments, whence they drew their salaries since the White House lacked statutory or budgetary authority to create new staff positions. It wasn't until 1939, during Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term in office, that the foundations of the modern White House staff were created using a formal structure. Roosevelt was able to get Congress to approve the creation of the Executive Office of the President reporting directly to the President which included the White House Office
White House Office
The White House Office is an entity within the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The White House Office is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, which was temporarily Pete Rouse, replaced on January 6, 2010 with the permanent appointment of William M. Daley, who is also...
.
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. Charged with the affairs of the White House it was the immediate predecessor to the modern Chief of Staff. It was in 1953, under Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, that the president's pre-eminent assistant was designated the 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
White House Counsel
The White House Counsel is a staff appointee of the President of the United States.-Role:The Counsel's role is to advise the President on all legal issues concerning the President and the White House...
, the 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....
, and others. This new system didn't catch on straight away. Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Kennedy and Johnson still relied on their Appointments Secretaries instead and it was not until the Nixon administration that the Chief of Staff become a permanent fixture in the White House.
The average term-of-service for a White House Chief of Staff is a little under 2.5 years. John R. Steelman
John R. Steelman
John Roy Steelman was the first Assistant to the President of the United States, serving President Harry S. Truman from 1946 to 1953. The office later became the White House Chief of Staff....
, under Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
, was the last Chief of Staff to serve for an entire presidential administration. Steelman also holds the record for longest-serving Chief of Staff (six years). Andrew Card
Andrew Card
Andrew Hill Card, Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush...
and Sherman Adams
Sherman Adams
Llewelyn Sherman Adams was an American politician, best known as White House Chief of Staff for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the culmination of a relatively short political career that also included a stint as Governor of New Hampshire...
tie for second-longest (five years each).
Most White House Chiefs of Staff are former politicians, and many continue their political careers in other senior roles. Lyndon Johnson's Chief of Staff W. Marvin Watson
W. Marvin Watson
William Marvin Watson was an advisor to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson and was Postmaster General in 1968 and early 1969.-Biography:...
became Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
later in LBJ's term. Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff Alexander Haig
Alexander Haig
Alexander Meigs Haig, Jr. was a United States Army general who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House Chief of Staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford...
became Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
under Reagan. Gerald Ford's Chief of Staff Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
later became a U.S. Representative for Wyoming, Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
under George H. W. Bush and Vice President
Vice President of the United States
The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...
under George W. Bush. Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
was another Chief of Staff for Ford and subsequently served as Secretary of Defense both in the Ford administration and decades later in the George W. Bush administration. Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Emanuel
Rahm Israel Emanuel is an American politician and the 55th and current Mayor of Chicago. He was formerly White House Chief of Staff to President Barack Obama...
left the House of Representatives to become Barack Obama's chief of staff and subsequently became mayor of Chicago
Mayor of Chicago
The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive of Chicago, Illinois, the third largest city in the United States. He or she is charged with directing city departments and agencies, and with the advice and consent of the Chicago City Council, appoints department and agency leaders.-Appointment...
.
Role
The roles of the Chief of Staff are both managerial and advisory and can include the following- Select key White House staff and supervise them
- Structure the White House staff system
- Control the flow of people into the Oval OfficeOval OfficeThe Oval Office, located in the West Wing of the White House, is the official office of the President of the United States.The room features three large south-facing windows behind the president's desk, and a fireplace at the north end...
- Manage the flow of information
- Protect the interests of the President
- Negotiate with CongressUnited States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
, other members of the executive branch, and extragovernmental political groups to implement the President's agenda
It is possible that a powerful Chief of Staff with a "hands-off" president (who decides not to become involved in the minutiae of government), can become a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
Prime Minister. Such prime ministers exist in some governmental systems: The prime minister runs the government (operations-wise), while the president remains somewhat aloof from the political process, but personally handling policy matters.
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
's first Chief of Staff, H.R. Haldeman, garnered a reputation in Washington for the iron hand he wielded in the position—famously referring to himself as "the President's son-of-a-bitch," he was a rigid gatekeeper who would frequently meet with administration officials in place of the President, then report himself to Nixon on the officials' talking points. Journalist Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
, in his books All the President's Men
All the President's Men
All the President's Men is a 1974 non-fiction book by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, two of the journalists investigating the first Watergate break-in and ensuing scandal for The Washington Post. The book chronicles the investigative reporting of Woodward and Bernstein from Woodward's initial...
and The Secret Man, wrote that many of his sources, including the famous Deep Throat
Deep Throat
Deep Throat is the pseudonym given to the secret informant who provided information to Bob Woodward of The Washington Post in 1972 about the involvement of United States President Richard Nixon's administration in what came to be known as the Watergate scandal...
, displayed a genuine fear of Haldeman.
By contrast, Andrew Card
Andrew Card
Andrew Hill Card, Jr. is a Republican American politician, former United States Cabinet member, and head of President George W. Bush's White House Iraq Group. Card served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President George H. W. Bush and the White House Chief of Staff under George W. Bush...
, President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
's first Chief of Staff, was not regarded as being as powerful. It has been speculated that this was due to Card being "overshadowed" by the influence of Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...
, the Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff who was "the architect" of Bush's political rise.
Deputy Chiefs of Staff
The Chief of Staff is assisted by one or more Deputy Chiefs of Staff. Under the Obama Administration, these roles are filled by Nancy-Ann DeParle and Alyssa MastromonacoAlyssa Mastromonaco
Alyssa Mastromonaco is Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations in the administration of President Barack Obama.-Education:...
. During the George W. Bush Administration, Joel Kaplan
Joel Kaplan
Joel Kaplan was the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy for U.S. President George W. Bush. The other Deputy Chief was Blake Gottesman, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations...
held this title for Policy. Karl Rove
Karl Rove
Karl Christian Rove was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to former President George W. Bush until Rove's resignation on August 31, 2007. He has headed the Office of Political Affairs, the Office of Public Liaison, and the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives...
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. Joe Hagin
Joe Hagin
Joseph Whitehouse Hagin II served as White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush from 2001 until the week of July 20, 2008. In September 2008, he was interim CEO of Jet Support Services Inc...
is the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.
See also
- White House Deputy Chief of Staff
- Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United StatesChief of Staff to the Vice President of the United StatesThe Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States is the Chief of Staff position within the Office of the Vice President, part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States...