The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a position in the federal government of the United States.
The chief of staff is a political appointee of the president of the United States who does not require Senate confirmation, and who serves at the pleasure of the president. While not a legally required role, all presidents since Harry S. Truman have appointed a chief of staff. James Baker is the only person to hold the office twice or serve under two different presidents.
In the second administration of President Donald Trump, the current chief of staff is Susie Wiles, who succeeded Jeff Zients on January 20, 2025. The chief of staff is the most senior political appointee in the White House. The position is widely recognized as one of great power and influence, owing to daily contact with the president of the United States and control of the Executive Office of the President of the United States.
Historical background Originally, the duties now performed by the chief of staff belonged to the president's private secretary and were fulfilled by crucial confidantes and policy advisers such as George B. Cortelyou, Joseph Tumulty, and Louis McHenry Howe to presidents Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D. 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 utmost discretion. The job of gatekeeper and overseeing the president's schedule was separately delegated to the appointments secretary, as with 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, President Franklin D. Roosevelt relied on his 'Brain Trust' of top advisers. Although working directly for the president, they were often appointed to vacant positions in federal agencies and departments, whence they drew their salaries since the White House lacked statutory or budgetary authority to create staff positions. It was not until 1939, during 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 persuade Congress to approve the creation of the Executive Office of the President, which would report directly to the president. During World War II, Roosevelt created the position of "Chief of Staff to the Commander-in-Chief" for his principal military adviser, Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy.
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 preeminent assistant was designated the "White House chief of staff".
Assistant to the president became a rank generally shared by the chief of staff along with the other most senior presidential aides such as the White House counsel, the White House press secretary, and others. This new system did not catch on immediately however. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson still relied on their appointments secretaries instead, and it was not until the Nixon administration that the chief of staff took over maintenance of the president's schedule. This concentration of power in the Nixon and Ford White House (whose last chief of staff was Dick Cheney) led presidential candidate Jimmy Carter to campaign in 1976 with the promise that he would not appoint a chief of staff. And indeed, for the first two and a half years of his presidency, he appointed no one to the post.
Average tenure in office The average tenure for a White House chief of staff is just over 18 months.Whipple, Chris (2017). The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency . New York: Crown Publishing Group. . . The inaugural chief of staff, John R. Steelman, under Harry S. Truman, was the president's only chief of staff; Kenneth O'Donnell alone served in the position during John F. Kennedy's unfinished term of 34 months in office. Andrew Card and Denis McDonough each served at least one entire presidential term of office under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, respectively.
Role Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, loosely describes the role of a White House chief of staff through his interview with former president Barack Obama:
The responsibilities of the chief of staff are both managerial and advisory and may include the following:
Selecting senior White House staffers and supervising their offices' activities Managing and designing the overall structure of the White House staff system Control the flow of people into the Oval Office Manage the flow of information to and decisions from the Resolute desk (with the White House staff secretary) Directing, managing and overseeing all policy development Protecting the political interests of the president Negotiating legislation and appropriating funds with United States Congress leaders, Cabinet secretaries, and extra-governmental political groups to implement the president's agenda Advise on any and usually various issues set by the president
These responsibilities have recently extended to firing of senior staff members. In the case of Omarosa Manigault Newman, who published a tape she alleged was made in the Situation Room of her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly, the chief of staff said that his decision for her departure was non-negotiable and that "the staff and everyone on the staff works for me and not the president."
Richard Nixon's first chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, garnered a reputation in Washington for the iron hand he wielded in the position. 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, and then report to Nixon on the officials' talking points himself. Journalist Bob Woodward, in his books All the President's Men (1974) and The Secret Man (2005), wrote that many of his sources, including Mark Felt, later revealed as "Deep Throat", displayed a genuine fear of Haldeman.Woodward, Bob; Bernstein, Carl (1974). All the President's Men. New York: Simon & Schuster. .Woodward, Bob (2005). The Secret Man. New York: Simon & Schuster. .
List of White House chiefs of staff
NameStartEndDurationPresident(s)12 December 194620 January 195320 January 19537 October 19587 October 195820 January 196120 January 196122 November 196322 November 196314 October 196414 October 19648 July 19658 July 19651 June 19661 June 196626 April 196826 April 196820 January 196920 January 196930 April 1973Vacant30 April 19734 May 19734 May 197321 September 197421 September 197420 November 197520 November 197520 January 1977Vacant20 January 197718 July 197918 July 197911 June 198011 June 198020 January 198120 January 19814 February 19854 February 198527 February 198727 February 19871 July 19881 July 198820 January 198920 January 198916 December 199116 December 199123 August 199223 August 199220 January 199320 January 199317 July 199417 July 199420 January 199720 January 199720 October 199820 October 199820 January 200120 January 200114 April 200614 April 200620 January 200920 January 20091 October 20101 October 201013 January 201113 January 201127 January 201227 January 201220 January 201320 January 201320 January 201720 January 201731 July 201731 July 20172 January 20192 January 201931 March 202031 March 202020 January 202120 January 20217 February 20238 February 202320 January 202520 January 2025Incumbent
See also Chief of staff Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States Officer of the United States Staff and line White House Deputy Chief of Staff
References