White House Chief of Staff facts for kids

Quick facts for kids White House Chief of Staff
Incumbent Jeff Zients since February 8, 2023
Executive Office of the President White House Office
Reports to	President of the United States
Appointer	President of the United States
Formation	1946 (Assistant to the President) 1961 (White House Chief of Staff)
First holder	John R. Steelman

President Joe Biden walks with Chief of Staff Ron Klain along the Colonnade of the White House.

Chief of Staff Jack Watson (1980–1981) meets with President Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office.

President George H. W. Bush sits at his desk in the Oval Office Study as Chief of Staff John Sununu stands nearby.

Chief of Staff Reince Priebus looks into the Oval Office as President Donald Trump reads over his notes.

President Barack Obama meets with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in the Oval Office.

The White House chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, a cabinet 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.

In the administration of Joe Biden, the current chief of staff is Jeff Zients, who succeeded Ron Klain on February 8, 2023. 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 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 famous '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 a little more than 18 months. 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:

During the last days of his presidency, Barack Obama observed: 'One of the things I've learned is that the big breakthroughs are typically the result of a lot of grunt work—just a whole lot of blocking and tackling.' Grunt work is what chiefs of staff do.

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; and
• 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, he was a rigid gatekeeper who would frequently meet with administration officials in place of the president, and then report himself to Nixon on the officials' talking points. 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, displayed a genuine fear of Haldeman.

List of White House chiefs of staff

No.		Name	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Party	President
1		Steelman, JohnJohn Steelman (1900–1999)	December 12, 1946	January 20, 1953	6 years, 39 days	Democratic	Harry S Truman
2		Adams, ShermanSherman Adams (1899–1986)	January 20, 1953	October 7, 1958	5 years, 260 days	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower
3		Persons, WiltonWilton Persons (1896–1977)	October 7, 1958	January 20, 1961	2 years, 105 days	Republican	Dwight D. Eisenhower
–		O'Donnell, KennethKenneth O'Donnell (1924–1977)	January 20, 1961	November 22, 1963	2 years, 306 days	Democratic	John F. Kennedy
–		Jenkins, WalterWalter Jenkins (1918–1985)	November 22, 1963	October 14, 1964	327 days	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson
–		Moyers, BillBill Moyers (born 1934)	October 14, 1964	July 8, 1965	267 days	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson
–		Valenti, JackJack Valenti (1921–2007)	July 8, 1965	June 1, 1966	328 days	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson
–		Watson, MarvinMarvin Watson (1924–2017)	June 1, 1966	April 26, 1968	1 year, 330 days	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson
–		Jones, JamesJames R. Jones (born 1939)	April 26, 1968	January 20, 1969	269 days	Democratic	Lyndon B. Johnson
4		Haldeman, HarryH. R. Haldeman (1926–1993)	January 20, 1969	April 30, 1973	4 years, 100 days	Republican	Richard Nixon
Vacant April 30, 1973 – May 4, 1973 (4 days)
5		Haig, AlexanderAlexander Haig (1924–2010)	May 4, 1973	September 21, 1974	1 year, 140 days	Republican	Richard Nixon Gerald Ford
6		Rumsfeld, DonaldDonald Rumsfeld (1932–2021)	September 21, 1974	November 20, 1975	1 year, 60 days	Republican	Gerald Ford
7		Cheney, DickDick Cheney (born 1941)	November 20, 1975	January 20, 1977	1 year, 61 days	Republican	Gerald Ford
Vacant January 20, 1977 – July 18, 1979 (2 years, 179 days)
8		Jordan, HamiltonHamilton Jordan (1944–2008)	July 18, 1979	June 11, 1980	329 days	Democratic	Jimmy Carter
9		Watson, JackJack Watson (born 1938)	June 11, 1980	January 20, 1981	223 days	Democratic	Jimmy Carter
10		Baker, JamesJames Baker (born 1930)	January 20, 1981	February 4, 1985	4 years, 15 days	Republican	Ronald Reagan
11		Regan, DonaldDonald Regan (1918–2003)	February 4, 1985	February 27, 1987	2 years, 23 days	Republican	Ronald Reagan
12		Baker, HowardHoward Baker (1925–2014)	February 27, 1987	July 1, 1988	1 year, 125 days	Republican	Ronald Reagan
13		Duberstein, KennethKenneth Duberstein (1944–2022)	July 1, 1988	January 20, 1989	203 days	Republican	Ronald Reagan
14		Sununu, JohnJohn Sununu (born 1939)	January 20, 1989	December 16, 1991	2 years, 330 days	Republican	George H. W. Bush
15		Skinner, SamuelSamuel Skinner (born 1938)	December 16, 1991	August 23, 1992	251 days	Republican	George H. W. Bush
16		Baker, JamesJames Baker (born 1930)	August 23, 1992	January 20, 1993	150 days	Republican	George H. W. Bush
17		McLarty, MackMack McLarty (born 1946)	January 20, 1993	July 17, 1994	1 year, 178 days	Democratic	Bill Clinton
18		Panetta, LeonLeon Panetta (born 1938)	July 17, 1994	January 20, 1997	2 years, 187 days	Democratic	Bill Clinton
19		Bowles, ErskineErskine Bowles (born 1945)	January 20, 1997	October 20, 1998	1 year, 273 days	Democratic	Bill Clinton
20		Podesta, JohnJohn Podesta (born 1949)	October 20, 1998	January 20, 2001	2 years, 92 days	Democratic	Bill Clinton
21		Card, AndrewAndrew Card (born 1947)	January 20, 2001	April 14, 2006	5 years, 84 days	Republican	George W. Bush
22		Bolten, JoshuaJoshua Bolten (born 1954)	April 14, 2006	January 20, 2009	2 years, 281 days	Republican	George W. Bush
23		Emanuel, RahmRahm Emanuel (born 1959)	January 20, 2009	October 1, 2010	1 year, 254 days	Democratic	Barack Obama
–		Rouse, PetePete Rouse (born 1946) Acting	October 1, 2010	January 13, 2011	104 days	Democratic	Barack Obama
24		Daley, BillBill Daley (born 1948)	January 13, 2011	January 27, 2012	1 year, 14 days	Democratic	Barack Obama
25		Lew, JackJack Lew (born 1955)	January 27, 2012	January 20, 2013	359 days	Democratic	Barack Obama
26		McDonough, DenisDenis McDonough (born 1969)	January 20, 2013	January 20, 2017	4 years, 0 days	Democratic	Barack Obama
27		Priebus, ReinceReince Priebus (born 1972)	January 20, 2017	July 31, 2017	192 days	Republican	Donald Trump
28		Kelly, JohnJohn F. Kelly (born 1950)	July 31, 2017	January 2, 2019	1 year, 154 days	Independent	Donald Trump
–		Mulvaney, MickMick Mulvaney (born 1967) Acting	January 2, 2019	March 31, 2020	1 year, 89 days	Republican	Donald Trump
29		Meadows, MarkMark Meadows (born 1959)	March 31, 2020	January 20, 2021	295 days	Republican	Donald Trump
30		Klain, RonRon Klain (born 1961)	January 20, 2021	February 7, 2023	2 years, 18 days	Democratic	Joe Biden
31		Zients, JeffJeff Zients (born 1966)	February 8, 2023	Incumbent	1 year, 79 days	Democratic	Joe Biden

See also

In Spanish: Jefe de Gabinete de la Casa Blanca para niños

• Chief of staff
• White House Deputy Chief of Staff
• Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States
• Officer of the United States
• Staff and line