The gatekeepers
Subtitle: how the White House Chiefs of Staff define every presidency
By: Chris Whipple
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 365
ISBN-13: 9780804138246; 9780804138260
Subjects: Politics and government; United States White House Office; Government; Officials and employees; 20th Century; United States. White House Office; Political; Executive Branch; United States; POLITICAL SCIENCE; Presidents; BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY; Staff; Employees; HISTORY
Description: "The first in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the White House Chiefs of Staff, whose actions--and inactions--have defined the course of our country. Since George Washington, presidents have depended on the advice of key confidants. But it wasn't until the twentieth century that the White House chief of staff became the second most powerful job in government. Unelected and unconfirmed, the chief serves at the whim of the president, hired and fired by him alone. He is the president's closest adviser and the person he depends on to execute his agenda. He decides who gets to see the president, negotiates with Congress, and--most crucially--enjoys unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. When the president makes a life-and-death decision, often the chief of staff is the only other person in the room. Each chief can make or break an administration, and each president reveals himself by the chief he picks. Through extensive, intimate interviews with all seventeen living chiefs and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity, whose members have included Rahm Emanuel, Dick Cheney, Leon Panetta, and Donald Rumsfeld. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history, showing us how James Baker and Panetta skillfully managed the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, ensuring their reelections--and, conversely, how Jimmy Carter never understood the importance of a chief, crippling his ability to govern. From Watergate to Iran-Contra to the Monica Lewinsky scandal to the Iraq War, Whipple shows us how the chief of staff can make the difference between success and disaster. As an outsider president tries to govern after a bitterly divisive election, The Gatekeepers could not be more timely. Filled with shrewd analysis and never-before-reported details, it is a compelling history that changes our perspective on the presidency."--Jacket flap.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-342) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction: "I brought my pillow and my blankie"; title: "The Lord High Executioner" : H.R. Haldeman and Richard Nixon; title: "Beware the spokes of the wheel" : Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Gerald Ford; title: "The smartest man in the room" : Hamilton Jordan, Jack Watson, and Jimmy Carter; title: "One hell of a chief of staff " : James A. Baker III and Ronald Reagan; title: "Don't hang up on the First Lady" : Donald Regan, Howard H. Baker Jr., Kenneth Duberstein, and Ronald Reagan; title: "The prime minister" : John Sununu, Samuel Skinner, James A. Baker III, and George H.W. Bush; title: "An iron fist in a velvet glove" : Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, Leon Panetta, Erskine Bowles, John Podesta, and Bill Clinton; title: "The decider" : Andrew Card, Joshua Bolten, and George W. Bush; title: "Between bad and worse" : Rahm Emanuel, William Daley, Jacob Lew, Denis McDonough, and Barack Obama.