The White House Staff

Inside the West Wing and Beyond

Bradley H. Patterson

• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
• Year: 2004
• ISBN:
  9780815798224
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Public Affairs & Administration
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Shrouded in anonymity, protected by executive privilege, but with no legal or constitutional authority of their own, the 5,900 people in 125 offices collectively known as the "White House staff" assist the chief executive by shaping, focusing, and amplifying presidential policy. Why is the staff so large? How is it organized and what do those 125 offices actually do? In this sequel to his critically appraised 1988 book, Ring of Power, Bradley H. Patterson Jr.—a veteran of three presidential administrations—takes us inside the closely guarded turf of the White House. In a straightforward narrative free of partisan or personal agendas, Patterson provides an encyclopedic description of the contemporary White House staff and its operations. He illustrates the gradual shift in power from the cabinet departments to the staff and, for the first time in presidential literature, presents an accounting for the total budget of the modern White House. White House staff members control everything from the monumental to the mundane. They prepare the president for summit conferences, but also specify who sits on Air Force One. They craft the language for the president to use on public occasions—from a State of the Union Address to such "Rose Garden rubbish" as the pre-Thanksgiving pardon for the First Turkey. The author provides an entertaining yet in-depth overview of these responsibilities. Patterson also illuminates the astounding degree to which presidents personally conduct American diplomacy and personally supervise U.S. military actions. The text is punctuated with comments by senior White House aides and by old Washington hands whose careers go back more than half a century. The book provides not only a comprehensive key to the offices and activities that make the White House work, but also the feeling of belonging to that exclusive membership inside the West Wing.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Information
• Table of Contents
• Preface to the Paperback Edition
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Part One: Outside and Inside the White House
• Outside the Gates: A No-Consensus Society
• Inside the Gates: Alternatives for Organizing a White House
• The Not-So-Bashful Bureaucracy
• The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
• "To Summarize and Analyze . . . Refine the Conflicting Views": The Domestic Policy Staff
• The National Economic Council
• The "Just-Us Department": The Counsel to the President
• Legislative Affairs: "An Ambulatory Bridge across a Constitutional Gulf"
• Equidistant in an Adversarial Relationship: The Press Secretary
• The Continuing Campaign: The Office of Communications
• Judson Welliver and His Successors: The Speechwriting Office
• Representing Interests and Building Coalitions: The Office of Public Liaison
• Achievements versus Activities: The Office of Presidential Scheduling
• Energizer for Federalism: The Office of Intergovernmental Affairs
• Supporting Political Central: The Office of Political Affairs and Independent Political Consultants
• Control All the Way Down: The Office of Presidential Personnel
• Manager of Apparently Effortless Success: The Advance Office
• First-Magnitude Czars: Special Assistants for Special Purposes
• First Special Counselor: The President's Spouse
• Second Special Counselor: The Vice President
• Third Special Counselor: The Vice President's Spouse
• The President's Centripetal Offices
• Part Three: The Professional White House
• Serving the Presidency: The Professional Staffs of the Modern White House
• Part Four: White House Service in the Years Ahead
• The Essence of White House Service: Looking to the Future
• Notes
• Index
• Back Cover