Chris Whipple

Well, it really is the second most powerful job in government. And that was my principal takeaway when I wrote the book back in 2017. He's critical because every president learns sometimes the hard way that you cannot govern effectively without empowering a chief of staff as first among equals to, number one, execute your agenda.

Well, it really is the second most powerful job in government. And that was my principal takeaway when I wrote the book back in 2017. He's critical because every president learns sometimes the hard way that you cannot govern effectively without empowering a chief of staff as first among equals to, number one, execute your agenda.

Number two, be the gatekeeper, who's the person who gives the president time and space to think. You have to be the keeper of the message, making sure that everybody's on the same page. You have to be the president's heat shield. Jack Watson, Jimmy Carter's last White House chief, calls him the javelin catcher, taking the heat for the president. It's just an extraordinarily critical job.

Number two, be the gatekeeper, who's the person who gives the president time and space to think. You have to be the keeper of the message, making sure that everybody's on the same page. You have to be the president's heat shield. Jack Watson, Jimmy Carter's last White House chief, calls him the javelin catcher, taking the heat for the president. It's just an extraordinarily critical job.

Number two, be the gatekeeper, who's the person who gives the president time and space to think. You have to be the keeper of the message, making sure that everybody's on the same page. You have to be the president's heat shield. Jack Watson, Jimmy Carter's last White House chief, calls him the javelin catcher, taking the heat for the president. It's just an extraordinarily critical job.

And again, to circle back to a question you raised earlier, he or she, at the end of the day, is the person who has to be able to tell the president what he doesn't want to hear.

And again, to circle back to a question you raised earlier, he or she, at the end of the day, is the person who has to be able to tell the president what he doesn't want to hear.

And again, to circle back to a question you raised earlier, he or she, at the end of the day, is the person who has to be able to tell the president what he doesn't want to hear.

Don Rumsfeld, who was a very good chief of staff for Gerald Ford way back in the day, said, you know, he's the one person besides the president's wife who can look him straight in the eye and say, you cannot go down this road. Trust me, it's a mistake.

Don Rumsfeld, who was a very good chief of staff for Gerald Ford way back in the day, said, you know, he's the one person besides the president's wife who can look him straight in the eye and say, you cannot go down this road. Trust me, it's a mistake.

Don Rumsfeld, who was a very good chief of staff for Gerald Ford way back in the day, said, you know, he's the one person besides the president's wife who can look him straight in the eye and say, you cannot go down this road. Trust me, it's a mistake.

Well, Eisenhower was smart enough to know that you really need to have a chief of staff to make things work. And he had a guy named Sherman Adams who was gruff and tough, and they called him the abominable no-man. He was the— Oh, because he said no all the time? Yes, exactly. He was the governmental equivalent of an army chief of staff, which is probably why Ike came up with the position.

Well, Eisenhower was smart enough to know that you really need to have a chief of staff to make things work. And he had a guy named Sherman Adams who was gruff and tough, and they called him the abominable no-man. He was the— Oh, because he said no all the time? Yes, exactly. He was the governmental equivalent of an army chief of staff, which is probably why Ike came up with the position.

Well, Eisenhower was smart enough to know that you really need to have a chief of staff to make things work. And he had a guy named Sherman Adams who was gruff and tough, and they called him the abominable no-man. He was the— Oh, because he said no all the time? Yes, exactly. He was the governmental equivalent of an army chief of staff, which is probably why Ike came up with the position.

But anyway, it began with Eisenhower, and really what I've discovered in writing the book was that no— No modern president has really been able to succeed without an empowered White House chief of staff. There would have been, in my view, no Reagan revolution without Jim Baker.

But anyway, it began with Eisenhower, and really what I've discovered in writing the book was that no— No modern president has really been able to succeed without an empowered White House chief of staff. There would have been, in my view, no Reagan revolution without Jim Baker.

But anyway, it began with Eisenhower, and really what I've discovered in writing the book was that no— No modern president has really been able to succeed without an empowered White House chief of staff. There would have been, in my view, no Reagan revolution without Jim Baker.

And Bill Clinton might well have been a one-term president without Leon Panetta, who really turned his White House around. So it's a very important issue. job. Cheney told me that, and Cheney, of course, was Gerald Ford's second White House chief at the age of 33 or 34, I think. Cheney told me that the White House chief has more power than the vice president.

And Bill Clinton might well have been a one-term president without Leon Panetta, who really turned his White House around. So it's a very important issue. job. Cheney told me that, and Cheney, of course, was Gerald Ford's second White House chief at the age of 33 or 34, I think. Cheney told me that the White House chief has more power than the vice president.

And Bill Clinton might well have been a one-term president without Leon Panetta, who really turned his White House around. So it's a very important issue. job. Cheney told me that, and Cheney, of course, was Gerald Ford's second White House chief at the age of 33 or 34, I think. Cheney told me that the White House chief has more power than the vice president.