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Joshua B. Bolten, the current White House Chief of Staff.

The White House Chief of Staff is the highest-ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States and a senior aide to the President. The U.S. President's Chief of Staff is a very powerful position, sometimes dubbed "The Second-Most Powerful Man in Washington".

The current White House Chief of Staff is Joshua B. Bolten, who has served in this position since April 14, 2006.

The duties of the White House Chief of Staff vary greatly from one administration to another. However, he is responsible for overseeing the actions of the White House staff, managing the President's schedule, and deciding who is allowed to meet with the President. Because of this duty, the Chief of Staff has been dubbed the "the gatekeeper" and the "co-President".

Originally, the duties now performed by the Chief of Staff belonged to the secretary to the President [1]. In 1946, in response to the rapid growth of the government's executive branch, the position of Assistant to the President of the United States was established and charged with the affairs of the White House. In 1961, the president's preeminent assistant was designated White House Chief of Staff. "Assistant to the President" became a rank generally shared by the Chief of Staff with such senior aides as Deputy Chiefs of Staff, the White House Counsel, the Press Secretary, among others.

Not every President has had a formal Chief of Staff. John F. Kennedy never hired one. Due to the stressful and demanding nature of the job, the average term of service for a White House Chief of Staff is a little under two and a half years. John R. Steelman, under Harry S. Truman, was the last to serve as Chief of Staff throughout the entire duration of a President's administration. Steelman also holds the record for longest service at six years. Andrew Card and Sherman Adams tie for second at five years each.

Most White House Chiefs of Staff are former politicians, and many continue their political careers in other senior roles. Examples include Richard Nixon's Chief of Staff Alexander Haig who later became United States Secretary of State, and Gerald Ford's Chiefs of Staff, who were Dick Cheney, who became United States Secretary of Defense and is the current Vice President of the United States, and Donald Rumsfeld, who went on to serve as United States Secretary of Defense under both Ford and George W. Bush.

Some have suggested that a powerful Chief of Staff dealing with a "hands-off" president who decides not to become involved in the minutiæ of government, can become a quasi-prime minister. Such prime ministers exist in some presidential systems, such as in France and Russia, with the prime minister running the government and the president remaining somewhat aloof from the political process but setting broad policy goals. Under Ronald Reagan, Donald Regan was seen by many as a prime ministerial-style chiefs of staff following James Baker. Howard Baker, who succeeded Regan, was critical of this system and what is sometimes known as the "Imperial Presidency."

By contrast, Andrew Card, President George W. Bush's first Chief of Staff, was not regarded as being as powerful. There is some spectulation about this being because Card was "overshadowed" by Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove [2]. Similarly, President Bill Clinton's Chiefs of Staff were not particularly powerful.

• Actor John Spencer filled this position for 7 seasons as Democrat Leo McGarry on the NBC drama The West Wing, with characters C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) and Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) later serving in the role. Television critics and political analysts alike have praised his performance as an accurate portrayal of the challenging position.
• 24 has portrayed five White House Chiefs of Staff:
  • Jude Ciccolella as Mike Novick, assisting President David Palmer and later President Charles Logan.
  • D.B. Woodside as Wayne Palmer, also assisting President David Palmer (his brother).
  • John Allen Nelson as Walt Cummings, also assisting President Charles Logan.
  • Peter MacNicol as Tom Lennox, assisting the aforementioned Wayne Palmer after his election to the Presidency.
  • Bob Gunton as Ethan Kanin, assisting Allison Taylor.
• Actor Harry Joseph Lennix III played Chief of Staff Jim Gardner on the television show Commander in Chief.
• Actor Martin Sheen played Chief of Staff A.J. MacInerney in the 1995 film The American President before portraying President Josiah Bartlet on The West Wing.
• Actor Frank Langella played Chief of Staff Bob Alexander in the 1993 film Dave.
• Actor and future U.S. Senator from Tennessee Fred Dalton Thompson as White House Chief of Staff Harry Sargent in the 1993 film In the Line of Fire
• The 2001-2006 books by Joel C. Rosenberg portray main character Brad Benton as the White House Chief of Staff.
• Actor Tony Goldwyn played Chief of Staff Fletcher Coal in the 1993 film The Pelican Brief

The Chief of Staff is assisted by one or more Deputy White House Chiefs of Staff. Joel Kaplan and Joe Hagin currently have this title. Hagin is the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Mr. Kaplan for Policy. Karl Rove held the policy position until April 19, 2006 when White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten added his former Deputy Director of OMB to the Deputies list. Rove has since left the White House.

v • d • e White House Chiefs of Staff
Steelman • Adams • Persons • M Watson • Haldeman • Haig • Rumsfeld • Cheney • Jordan • J Watson • J Baker • Regan • H Baker • Duberstein • Sununu • Skinner • J Baker • McLarty • Panetta • Bowles • Podesta • Card • Bolten

v • d • e Agencies under the Executive Office of the President

White House Chief of Staff Deputy White House Chief of Staff White House Press Secretary • White House Counsel • White House Office of Presidential Communications • White House Office of Presidential Speechwriting • White House Office • White House Office of the Executive Clerk • Office of Management and Budget • National Security Council • Homeland Security Council • Office of the United States Trade Representative • Office of National Drug Control Policy • Council of Economic Advisers • Council on Environmental Quality • Domestic Policy Council • National Economic Council • Office of Administration • Office of Advance • Office of Scheduling • White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives • United States Office of National AIDS Policy • Office of Science and Technology Policy • President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board • President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board • USA Freedom Corps • White House Military Office