The White House Chief of Staff

American History Hit

History Hit

America, History

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 27 March 2023

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

While the President of the United States is often seen as the most powerful person in the world, the vastness of the Federal government is too much for just one person to oversee. The president needs someone to control events, run the White House, respond to challenges and handle emergencies. That person is the Chief of Staff. Chris Whipple, author of The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency, tells Don how the Chiefs of Staff have impacted the 8 most recent presidents.

Warning: There is explicit language in this episode.

Produced by Benjie Guy. Mixed by Joseph Knight. Senior Producer: Charlotte Long.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	On the morning of September 11th, 2001, before it became the most iconic date in modern world history,
0:08.0	President George W Bush was making an appearance at Emma Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida, promoting
0:15.5	his signature educational reform program, No Trial Left Behind.
0:20.6	In the minutes leading up to the president's arrival at the school,
0:23.4	his staff learned that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.
0:28.1	While this was alarming news, rumor had it it was a small plane, and after checking in with the White House, the President
0:35.8	proceeded with this event.
0:38.3	But 18 minutes later, a second plane struck, and in now legendary video, a man leans into the President's ear and
0:46.1	whispers the fateful news. America is under attack. That man was the White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr.
0:56.0	who at the time of the 9-11 attacks had served for less than a year in the still young Bush presidency. But his job was about to be changed, suddenly,
1:06.8	inexorably, as his boss pivoted to put the nation on a war footing and forever alter the course of global events. Hello everyone. I'm Don Wildman. Welcome to American History Hip. Nice of you to join us.
1:28.8	Every four years in this country, a U.S. President is elected or reelected.
1:34.0	It's an all-consuming affair that ultimately defines an era of American history
1:38.0	and potentially the world.
1:40.0	The Office of the American Presidency being that powerful and that influential.
1:45.0	And yet of course this power and influence is as much a result of management as it is of any one president's talents or acumen. The vastness of the federal government
1:55.1	is too much for any one human being to handle alone. Indeed, so are day-to-day
1:59.8	operations of the White House, never mind pursuing its greater goals and policy
2:03.8	objectives. Someone needs to control the events. Respond to challenges,
2:08.3	handle emergencies, skipper the ship. In the modern era of the American presidency, that job belongs to the White House Chief of Staff.
2:17.0	This is the territory of an important book that came out just a few years ago called The Gatekeepers that charts the histories of
2:23.5	eight Presidencies in terms of their chiefs of staff and we're privileged to have
	...

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