The Gatekeepers
How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency

Chris Whipple

Presidents have always depended on the advice of key confidants. But it wasn’t until the twentieth century that the White House chief of staff was codified and became the second most powerful job in government. Unelected and unconfirmed, the chief is the president’s closest adviser; when the president makes a life-and-death decision, often the chief of staff is the only other person in the room.

Through extensive, intimate interviews with eighteen chiefs (including Reince Priebus) and two former presidents, award-winning journalist Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history, showing us how one chief paved the way for the Reagan Revolution—and, conversely, how Watergate and the Iraq War might have been prevented by a more effective chief. Plus, in a chapter written exclusively for this edition, Whipple takes readers inside the Trump White House, revealing startling details of its dysfunction.