Horizon Information Portal

e-branch

Home

My Account/Renew Loans

Find Magazine Articles & more

The gatekeepers : how the White House Chiefs of Staff define every presidency / Chris Whipple.

by Whipple, Chris

View full image

973.920922 W573g

United States. White House Office -- Officials and employees.

Presidents -- United States -- Staff.

United States -- Politics and government.

9780804138246 (hc.)

365 p. : col. ill. ; 25 cm.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-342) and index.

Introduction: "I brought my pillow and my blankie" -- "The Lord High Executioner" : H.R. Haldeman and Richard Nixon -- "Beware the spokes of the wheel" : Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Gerald Ford -- "The smartest man in the room" : Hamilton Jordan, Jack Watson, and Jimmy Carter -- "One hell of a chief of staff " : James A. Baker III and Ronald Reagan -- "Don't hang up on the First Lady" : Donald Regan, Howard H. Baker Jr., Kenneth Duberstein, and Ronald Reagan -- "The prime minister" : John Sununu, Samuel Skinner, James A. Baker III, and George H.W. Bush -- "An iron fist in a velvet glove" : Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, Leon Panetta, Erskine Bowles, John Podesta, and Bill Clinton -- "The decider" : Andrew Card, Joshua Bolten, and George W. Bush -- "Between bad and worse" : Rahm Emanuel, William Daley, Jacob Lew, Denis McDonough, and Barack Obama.

An "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..."--Jacket flap.

Horizon Information Portal 3.24_8902M

© 2001-2013 SirsiDynix All rights reserved.

Horizon Information Portal