Secretary to the President of the United States

The Secretary to the President is a long-standing position in the United States government, known by many different titles during its history.

In the 19th- and early 20th-century it was a White House position that carried out all the tasks now spread throughout the modern White House Office. The Secretary would act as a buffer between the president and the public, keeping the president's schedules and appointments, managing his correspondence, managing the staff, communicating to the press as well as being a close aide and advisor to the president in a manner that often required great skill and discretion. In terms of rank it was a precursor to the modern White House Chief of Staff until the creation of that position in 1946.

During the mid 20th century, the position became known as the "appointments secretary", the person who was the guardian of the president's time. He had the responsibility of acting as "gatekeeper" and decided who got to meet with him.

The modern-day position of the president's secretary is fulfilled by a administrative assistant or personal assistant in the White House Office Oval Office Operations department who has a desk directly outside the Oval Office.

History

During the nineteenth century, presidents had few staff resources. Thomas Jefferson had one messenger and one secretary (referred to as an amanuensis in the common parlance of the time) at his disposal, both of whose salaries were paid by the president personally. In fact, all presidents up to James Buchanan paid the salaries of their private secretaries out of their own pockets; these roles were usually fulfilled by their relatives, most often their sons or nephews. James K. Polk notably had his wife take the role.

It was during Buchanan's term at the White House in 1857 that the United States Congress created a definite office named the "Private Secretary at the White House" and appropriated for its incumbent a salary of $2,500. The first man to hold such office officially and to be paid by the government instead of by the president, was Buchanan's nephew J. B. Henry.^[1] By Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, the White House staff had grown to three.^[2]

By 1900, the office had grown in such stature that Congress elevated the position to "Secretary to the President", in addition to including on the White House staff two assistant secretaries, two executive clerks, a stenographer, and seven other office personnel. The first man to hold the office of Secretary to the President was John Addison Porter whose failing health meant he was soon succeeded by George B. Cortelyou.^[1] Radio and the advent of media coverage soon meant that Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson too expanded the duties of their respective secretaries to dealing with reporters and giving daily press briefings.^[3]

At the time of its peak the Secretary to the President was a much admired government office held by men of high ability and considered as worthy as a cabinet rank;^[4] it even merited an oath of office.^[5] Three private secretaries were later appointed to the Cabinet: George B. Cortelyou, John Hay and Daniel S. Lamont.

Under Warren G. Harding, the size of the staff expanded to thirty-one, although most were clerical positions. During Herbert Hoover's presidency however, he tripled the staff adding two additional private secretaries (at a salary of $10,000^[6] each – increased from $7,200^[7]) added by Congress. The first Hoover designated his Legislative Secretary (the senior Secretary now informally referred to by the press as the president's "No.1 Secretary"^[8] ), the second his Confidential Secretary, and the third his Appointments and Press Secretary.^[9]

In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt converted Hoover's two extra secretaries into the permanent White House Press Secretary and Appointments Secretary, but from 1933 to 1939, as he greatly expanded the scope of the federal government's policies and powers in response to the Great Depression, Roosevelt relied on his "Brain Trust" of top advisers. Although working directly for the president, they were often appointed to vacant positions in agencies and departments, from whence they drew their salaries since the White House lacked statutory or budgetary authority to create new staff positions. It wasn't until 1939, during Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term in office, that the foundations of the modern White House staff were created using a formal structure. Roosevelt was able to get Congress to approve the creation of the Executive Office of the President reporting directly to the president, which included the White House Office. As a consequence, the office of Secretary to the President was greatly diminished in stature (mostly due to the lack of a sufficient replacement to Roosevelt's confidant Louis McHenry Howe who had died in 1936) and had many of its duties supplanted by the Appointments Secretary.

The appointments secretary was the guardian of the president's time. He had the responsibility of acting as "gatekeeper" and decided who got to meet with him.

Eisenhower appointed Arthur H. Vandenberg Jr. to the position, but he took a leave of absence before Eisenhower's inauguration and later withdrew without ever having served.

In 1946, in response to the rapid growth of the U.S. 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. Together with the Appointments Secretary the two took responsibility of most of the president's affairs and at this point the Secretary to the President was charged with nothing other than managing the president's official correspondence before the office was discontinued at the close of the Truman administration.

In 1961, under Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, the president's pre-eminent assistant was designated the 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 White House Press Secretary, and others. This new system didn't catch on straight away. Democrats Kennedy and Johnson still relied on their appointments secretaries instead and it was not until the Nixon administration that the Chief of Staff became a permanent fixture in the White House, and the appointments secretary was reduced to only functional importance. The Appointments Secretary position was eliminated in 1981, with the responsibilities transferred to the recently created White House Deputy Chief of Staff position.

The prior role of Secretary to the President should not be confused with the modern president's personal secretary who is officially an administrative assistant in the Executive Office of the President. The role of personal secretary to the president should also not be confused with the personal aide to the president (commonly known as the "body man" or "body woman").

List of presidential secretaries

Private Secretary

Year(s)	Secretary	President
1789–1793 1794–1797	Tobias Lear^[a]	George Washington
1789–1791	Maj. William Jackson^[b]	George Washington
1797–1801	William Smith Shaw	John Adams
1801–1803	Cpt. Meriwether Lewis	Thomas Jefferson
1803–1804	Lewis Harvie
1804–1805	William A. Burwell
1805–1809	Isaac Coles
1810–1815	Edward Coles	James Madison
1816–1817	James Payne Todd	James Madison
1817–1820	Joseph Jones Monroe	James Monroe
1820–1825	Samuel L. Gouverneur	James Monroe
1825–1829	John Adams II	John Quincy Adams
1829–1831	Andrew Jackson Donelson	Andrew Jackson
1831	Nicholas Trist
1831–1837	Andrew Jackson Donelson
1837–1841	Abraham Van Buren II	Martin Van Buren
1841	Henry Huntington Harrison	William Henry Harrison
1841–1845	John Tyler Jr.	John Tyler
1845–1849	Joseph Knox Walker^[c]	James K. Polk
1849–1850	Cpt. William Wallace Smith Bliss	Zachary Taylor
1850–1853	Millard Powers Fillmore	Millard Fillmore
1853–1857	Sidney Webster	Franklin Pierce

^ Washington had several young assistant secretaries who made copies of his correspondence. Among these were
Robert "Bob" Lewis, Howell Lewis, Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., and George Washington Craik.
^ As aide-de-camp.
^ His wife Sarah Childress Polk, it is said, too was his personal secretary.

Private Secretary to the White House

Year(s)	Secretary	President
1857–1859	James Buchanan Henry	James Buchanan
1859–1861	James Buchanan II	James Buchanan
1861–1865	John G. Nicolay	Abraham Lincoln
1861–1865	Maj. John Hay^[a]	Abraham Lincoln
1865	Col. William A. Browning	Andrew Johnson
1865	Col. Reuben D. Mussey Jr.^[a]
1865–1869	Brig. Gen. Robert Johnson^[b]
1867	Edmund Cooper
1866–1869	Col. William G. Moore^[a]
1869–1873	Robert M. Douglas^[c]	Ulysses S. Grant
1869–1872	Col. Horace Porter^[a]
1869–1873	Brig. Gen. Frederick Tracy Dent^[a]
1869–1876	Col. Orville E. Babcock^[a]
1873–1876	Col. Levi P. Luckey^[c]
1876–1877	Ulysses S. Grant Jr.^[c]
1877–1881	Webb C. Hayes	Rutherford B. Hayes
1881	Joseph Stanley Brown	James A. Garfield
1881	Joseph Stanley Brown	Chester A. Arthur
1881–1885	Fred J. Phillips	Chester A. Arthur
1885–1889	Col. Daniel Scott Lamont	Grover Cleveland
1889–1893	Maj. Elijah W. Halford	Benjamin Harrison
1893–1896	Henry T. Thurber	Grover Cleveland

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f As Military Secretary.
^ "Bob," as he was called, was an alcoholic and was in asylums for treatment during several periods of his father's presidency.^[10]
^ ^a ^b ^c Grant was closer to his military secretaries who did most of the work normally associated with the Private Secretary.

Secretary to the President

Year(s)	Secretary	President
1897–1900	John Addison Porter	William McKinley
1900–1903	George B. Cortelyou	William McKinley
1900–1903	George B. Cortelyou	Theodore Roosevelt
1903–1909	William Loeb Jr.	Theodore Roosevelt
1909–1910	Fred W. Carpenter	William Howard Taft
1910–1911	Charles D. Norton
1911–1912	Charles D. Hilles
1912	Carmi Thompson
1913–1921	Joseph Tumulty	Woodrow Wilson
1921–1923	George B. Christian Jr.	Warren G. Harding
1923–1925	C. Bascom Slemp	Calvin Coolidge
1925–1929	Everett Sanders	Calvin Coolidge
1929–1933	Walter H. Newton	Herbert Hoover
1933–1936	Col. Louis McHenry Howe	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1937–1938	James Roosevelt
1941–1943	Col. Marvin H. McIntyre^[a]
1944–1952	William D. Hassett^[a]
1944–1952	William D. Hassett^[a]	Harry S. Truman
1952–1953	Beth Campbell Short^[a]	Harry S. Truman

^ ^a ^b ^c As "Correspondence Secretary to the President"

Appointments Secretary

Year(s)	Secretary	President
1929–1931	George E. Akerson^[a]	Herbert Hoover
1931–1933	Ted Joslin^[a]	Herbert Hoover
1933–1938	Marvin H. McIntyre^[b]	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1938–1945	Edwin "Pa" Watson
1945–1953	Matthew J. Connelly
1945–1953	Matthew J. Connelly	Harry S. Truman
1953	Arthur H. Vandenberg Jr. On leave	Dwight D. Eisenhower
1953–1955	Thomas Stephens Acting during Vandenberg's term
1955–1957	Bernard M. Shanley
1957–1958	Bob Gray
1958–1961	Thomas Stephens
1961–1963	Kenneth O'Donnell^[c]	John F. Kennedy
1963–1965	Jack Valenti^[c]	Lyndon B. Johnson
1965–1968	W. Marvin Watson^[c]
1968–1969	James R. Jones^[c]
1969–1973	Dwight Chapin	Richard Nixon
1973–1974	Stephen B. Bull^[11]	Richard Nixon
1974–1977	Warren S. Rustand	Gerald Ford
1977–1978	Timothy Kraft	Jimmy Carter
1978–1981	Phil J. Wise	Jimmy Carter

^ ^a ^b As Appointments and Press Secretary.
^ Before 1937 the title was only "Assistant Secretary to Appointments".
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d De facto White House Chief of Staff.

Personal secretary to the president

Year(s)	Secretary	President
1933–1941	Missy LeHand	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1941–1945	Grace Tully	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1945–1953	Rose Conway	Harry S. Truman
1953–1961	Ann C. Whitman	Dwight D. Eisenhower
1961–1963	Evelyn Lincoln	John F. Kennedy
1963–1969	Gerri Whittington	Lyndon B. Johnson
1969–1974	Rose Mary Woods	Richard Nixon
1974–1977	Dorothy E. Downton	Gerald Ford
1977–1981	Susan Clough	Jimmy Carter
1981–1989	Kathleen Osborne	Ronald Reagan
1989–1993	Linda Casey	George H. W. Bush
1993–2001	Betty Currie	Bill Clinton
2001–2005	Ashley Estes Kavanaugh	George W. Bush
2005–2009	Karen E. Keller	George W. Bush
2009–2011	Katie Johnson	Barack Obama
2011–2014	Anita Decker Breckenridge
2014–2017	Ferial Govashiri
2017–2019	Madeleine Westerhout	Donald Trump
2019–2021	Molly Michael^[12]^[13]	Donald Trump
2021–2022	Ashley Williams^[a]^[14]	Joe Biden
2022–2024	Julia Reed^[b]^[15]
2024–present	Drew Rodriguez^[b]

^ As Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations
^ ^a ^b As Confidential Aide to the President

References

^ ^a ^b "White House – Secretaries To The Presidents". Old and Sold Antiques Digest. 1908. Archived from the original on October 26, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-05.
^ Burke, John P. "Administration of the White House". Miller Center of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 2010-11-17. Retrieved 2008-11-06.
^ Watson, Robert P. (2004). "4". Life in the White House. SUNY Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-7914-6098-6. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
^ Herring, Pendleton (2006). "5". Presidential Leadership. Transaction Publishers. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-4128-0556-8. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
^ "The Presidency: Ted for Ted". Time. 1932-05-09. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
^ "Big Job". Time. 1929-02-11. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
^ "$7,500 Pay for Tumulty". The New York Times. 1913-02-03. Retrieved 2009-05-18.
^ "Description". Time. 1929-03-04. Retrieved 2009-05-09. ^{[dead link‍]}
^ "Big Job". Time. 1929-02-11. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
^ Bergeron, Paul H. (2001). "Robert Johnson: The President's Troubled and Troubling Son". Journal of East Tennessee History. 73. Knoxville, TN: East Tennessee Historical Society: 1–22. ISSN 1058-2126. OCLC 760067571.
^ "Stephen B. Bull (White House Special Files: Staff Member and Office Files) | Richard Nixon Museum and Library". www.nixonlibrary.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
^ https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/July-1-2019-Report-FINAL.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
^ https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/July-1-2020-Report-FINAL.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
^ Kumar, Anita (3 February 2021). "In Biden's White House, surprise visits with staff replace late-night tweets". POLITICO. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
^ https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/July-1-2023-Report-Final-Version.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

Sources

The Cosmopolitan. University of Michigan. November 1900 – April 1901. pp. 487–92. Retrieved May 20, 2009.

[10] Washington had several young assistant secretaries who made copies of his correspondence. Among these were
Robert "Bob" Lewis, Howell Lewis, Bartholomew Dandridge, Jr., and George Washington Craik.

[11] As aide-de-camp.

[12] His wife Sarah Childress Polk, it is said, too was his personal secretary.

[MilSec-13] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f As Military Secretary.

[15] "Bob," as he was called, was an alcoholic and was in asylums for treatment during several periods of his father's presidency.^[10]

[Grant-16] Grant was closer to his military secretaries who did most of the work normally associated with the Private Secretary.

[correspondence-17] As "Correspondence Secretary to the President"

[AppointmentsAndPress-18] As Appointments and Press Secretary.

[19] Before 1937 the title was only "Assistant Secretary to Appointments".

[chief-20] De facto White House Chief of Staff.

[AppointmentsAndPress-24] As Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations

[Appointments-26] As Confidential Aide to the President

[history-1] "White House – Secretaries To The Presidents". Old and Sold Antiques Digest. 1908. Archived from the original on October 26, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-05.

[Administration-2] Burke, John P. "Administration of the White House". Miller Center of Public Affairs. Archived from the original on 2010-11-17. Retrieved 2008-11-06.

[3] Watson, Robert P. (2004). "4". Life in the White House. SUNY Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-7914-6098-6. Retrieved 2009-05-18.

[4] Herring, Pendleton (2006). "5". Presidential Leadership. Transaction Publishers. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-4128-0556-8. Retrieved 2009-05-18.

[5] "The Presidency: Ted for Ted". Time. 1932-05-09. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved 2009-05-18.

[6] "Big Job". Time. 1929-02-11. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved 2009-05-09.

[7] "$7,500 Pay for Tumulty". The New York Times. 1913-02-03. Retrieved 2009-05-18.

[8] "Description". Time. 1929-03-04. Retrieved 2009-05-09. ^{[dead link‍]}

[9] "Big Job". Time. 1929-02-11. Archived from the original on October 27, 2010. Retrieved 2009-05-09.

[bergeron_2001-14] Bergeron, Paul H. (2001). "Robert Johnson: The President's Troubled and Troubling Son". Journal of East Tennessee History. 73. Knoxville, TN: East Tennessee Historical Society: 1–22. ISSN 1058-2126. OCLC 760067571.

[21] "Stephen B. Bull (White House Special Files: Staff Member and Office Files) | Richard Nixon Museum and Library". www.nixonlibrary.gov. Archived from the original on 2019-02-13. Retrieved 2019-02-13.

[22] ttps://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/July-1-2019-Report-FINAL.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

[23] ttps://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/July-1-2020-Report-FINAL.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

[25] Kumar, Anita (3 February 2021). "In Biden's White House, surprise visits with staff replace late-night tweets". POLITICO. Retrieved 5 February 2021.

[27] ttps://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/July-1-2023-Report-Final-Version.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}

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