White House Chief of Staff

Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff
Mark Meadows Chief of Staff of the White House
Appointed by	Current President of the United States : Donald Trump
First incumbent	John Steelman
Current incumbent	Mark Meadows
Creation of office	December 12, 1946
Salutation
Deputy	Principal Deputy Chief of Staff currently: Emma Doyle
website	whitehouse.gov

The White House Chief of Staff ( English White House chief of staff ) is the highest ranking employees in the Executive Office of the President of the United States . The full name of the position is Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff (German Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff ). The post of chief of staff can be very powerful; he is sometimes referred to as "the second most powerful man in Washington " (after the president). The office was created in 1946 under the name Assistant to the President (German: Assistant to the President). In 1961 it got its current name. The incumbent is appointed and, if necessary, dismissed by the president. The approval of the Congress is not required.

Assignments and history

Prior to 1946 there were the positions of Secretary to the President and Appointments Secretary who took over the duties of a variety of present-day White House staff and organs. The office of assistant to the president was created during the presidency of Harry S. Truman in order to master the strongly grown executive branch and took over almost all tasks that were previously assigned to the secretary of the president. With the end of Truman's tenure as President, the position of Secretary to the President was also abolished.

The duties of the chief of staff depend heavily on the president, but he is generally responsible for managing the rest of the staff and the president's calendar. The chief of staff also has a duty to control access to the president. Outside the formal relationship, the chief of staff is often the president's primary political advisor and often a close friend.

Some presidents, such as John F. Kennedy , did not appoint a chief of staff. President Carter did not have a chief of staff until the end of his term. All presidents except Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson had several chiefs of staff. The average term of office is around two and a half years.

Most chiefs of staff were politicians beforehand and many later pursue their political careers. Examples of this are the two chiefs of staff under Gerald Ford , Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney , who later both became defense ministers , the latter even becoming vice-president . Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff, Officer Alexander Haig , and Ronald Reagan's Chief of Staff James Baker both later became Secretary of State .

Critics complain that an active chief of staff under a more passive president who stays out of the details of government work can develop into a quasi- prime minister . During the Ronald Reagan presidency, James Baker and Donald Regan served as quasi-prime ministers. Howard Baker , who succeeded Donald Regan as chief of staff, was rather critical of such a situation.

By comparison, Andrew Card , who was chief of staff in the Bush administration until April 14, 2006, was not seen as very powerful. This is largely due to the fact that Bush preferred to act directly with his ministers. Likewise, President Clinton's chiefs of staff were generally relatively powerless because of Clinton's leadership, who always sought direct access to government operations. In January 2013, Barack Obama appointed Denis McDonough , the fifth chief of staff during his tenure.

The chief of staff is supported by one or more deputies who are responsible for various areas of responsibility. The allocation differs in each presidency. Under Donald Trump there is the position of Principal Deputy , who is in front of the other deputies.

List of Chiefs of Staff of the White House

chief of staff	image	president	Term of office
John Roy Steelman		Harry S. Truman	December 12, 1946 to January 20, 1953
Llewelyn Sherman Adams		Dwight D. Eisenhower	January 20, 1953 to October 7, 1958
Wilton Burton Persons			October 7, 1958 to January 20, 1961
de facto : Kenneth Patrick O'Donnell		John F. Kennedy	January 20, 1961 to November 22, 1963
de facto : William Marvin Watson		Lyndon B. Johnson	February 1, 1965 to April 26, 1968
de facto : James Robert Jones			April 26, 1968 to January 20, 1969
Harry Robbins Haldeman		Richard Nixon	January 20, 1969 to April 30, 1973
Alexander Meigs Haig Jr.			May 4, 1973 to September 21, 1974
Donald Henry Rumsfeld		Gerald Ford	September 21, 1974 to November 20, 1975
Richard Bruce Cheney			November 20, 1975 to January 20, 1977
William Hamilton McWhorter Jordan		Jimmy Carter	July 18, 1979 to June 11, 1980
Jack Hearn Watson Jr.			June 11, 1980 to January 20, 1981
James Addison Baker III		Ronald Reagan	January 20, 1981 to February 4, 1985
Donald Thomas Regan			February 4, 1985 to February 27, 1987
Howard Henry Baker Jr.			February 27, 1987 to July 1, 1988
Kenneth M. Duberstein			July 1, 1988 January 20, 1989
John Henry Sununu		George Bush	January 20, 1989 to December 16, 1991
Samuel Knox Skinner			December 16, 1991 to August 23, 1992
James Addison Baker III			August 23, 1992 to January 20, 1993
Thomas F. McLarty, III		Bill Clinton	January 20, 1993 to July 17, 1994
Leon Edward Panetta			July 17, 1994 to January 20, 1997
Erskine Boyce Bowles			January 20, 1997 to October 20, 1998
John David Podesta Jr.			October 20, 1998 to January 20, 2001
Andrew Hill Card Jr.		George W. Bush	January 20, 2001 to April 14, 2006
Joshua Brewster Bolten			April 14, 2006 to January 20, 2009
Rahm Israel Emanuel		Barack Obama	January 20, 2009 to October 1, 2010
Peter Mikami Rouse ( executive)			October 1, 2010 to January 13, 2011
William Michael Daley			January 13, 2011 to January 27, 2012
Jacob Joseph Lew			January 27, 2012 to January 20, 2013
Denis Richard McDonough			January 20, 2012 to January 20, 2017
Reinhold Richard Priebus		Donald Trump	January 20, 2017 to July 31, 2017
John Francis Kelly			July 31, 2017 to January 2, 2019
John Michael Mulvaney ( executive )			January 2, 2019 to March 31, 2020
Mark Randall Meadows			since March 31, 2020

literature

• Michael Nelson: The Presidency and the Political System. Sage, 10th edition 2014. ISBN 978-1-4522-4043-5
• Bradley H. Patterson: The White House Staff: Inside the West Wing and Beyond. Brookings Institution Press, 2004.

Web links

Commons : White House Chief of Staff  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ John P. Burke: Administration of the White House. In: Miller Center of Public Affairs. University of Virginia, archived from the original on November 17, 2010 ; accessed on March 15, 2020 (English). 
2. ↑ Nancy Cook, Adam Cancryn: 'Acting' in name only: Mulvaney staffs up West Wing. In: Politico. Politico LLC, January 11, 2019, accessed March 15, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Majid Sattar: Trump's Chief of Staff Meadows: In the closest circle of power. In: faz.net. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, March 8, 2029, accessed on March 16, 2020 . 

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Kenneth O'Donnell , W. Marvin Watson and James Robert Jones were not appointed Chief of Staff, but filled this role as Appointments Secretary .