The White House Staff: Inside the West Wing and Beyond [Hardcover]

Bradley H., Jr. Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

Shrouded in anonymity, protected by executive privilege, but with no legal or constitutional authority of their own, the 5,900 people in 125 offices collectively known as the White House staff assist the chief executive by shaping, focusing, and amplifying presidential policy. Why is the staff so large? How is it organized and what do those 125 offices actually do? In this sequel to his critically appraised 1988 book, Ring of Power, Bradley H. Patterson Jr.a veteran of three presidential administrationstakes us inside the closely guarded turf of the White House. In a straightforward narrative free of partisan or personal agendas, Patterson provides an encyclopedic description of the contemporary White House staff and its operations. He illustrates the gradual shift in power from the cabinet departments to the staff and, for the first time in presidential literature, presents an accounting for the total budget of the modern White House. White House staff members control everything from the monumental to the mundane. They prepare the president for summit conferences, but also specify who sits on Air Force One. They craft the language for the president to use on public occasionsfrom a State of the Union Address to such " Rose Garden rubbish" as the pre-Thanksgiving pardon for the First Turkey. The author provides an entertaining yet in-depth overview of these responsibilities. Patterson also illuminates the astounding degree to which presidents personally conduct American diplomacy and personally supervise U.S. military actions. The text is punctuated with comments by senior White House aides and by old Washington hands whose careers go back more than half a century. The bookprovides not only a comprehensive key to the offices and activities that make the White House work, but also the feeling of belonging to that exclusive membership inside the West Wing.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Several feature films and kiss-and-tell memoirs by presidential appointees from the Reagan era on have portrayed White House staffers as corrupt bureaucrats. Patterson spent 14 years on the staffs of Presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, and Ford and here provides an update of his Ring of Power (LJ 12/88. o.p.) to counter this unsavory image. He interviewed 130 former and current staffers to provide summaries of the 125 offices with 5700 employees that comprise the White House staff, which Patterson calls the true nexus of governance. They range from the 200-member staff of the National Security Advisor to the small-staffed Gifts Office, which determines the fate of the 15,000 gifts a president receives each year. The author contends that the development and implementation of domestic and international policies is centralized in the White House and its staff and not in the unwieldy, inefficient Cabinet. The office descriptions are made interesting by hundreds of anecdotes from people who held staff positions mostly during the Bush and Clinton administrations. Large public and academic libraries should consider purchasing, but this book is recommended primarily for those who will serve as staff members.DKarl Helicher, Upper Merion Township Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Should be required reading for any transition team" -- New York Times, November 10, 2000

"This book will be useful to anyone wishing to work in, or write about, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue." -- Washington Post Book World, August 27, 2000

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 500 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Institution Press; Rev Upd edition (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815769504
• ISBN-13: 978-0815769507
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #575,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book for the politically minded, September 19, 2001

By 

Jeffrey Ellis "bored recluse" (Richardson, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The White House Staff: Inside the West Wing and Beyond (Hardcover)

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to find out what its really like to serve as a member of the White House staff as opposed to what may be portrayed on television. This book reveals that most staffers are hardly the fast-quipping, terminally righteous characters from The West Wing but are instead human beings attempting, like all of us, to do the best job possible and all the more admirable for it.

Anyway, this is one of the most detailed examinations of the Presidential staff that I've ever read. Each chapter is dedicated to a different part of the White House staff and basically gives a detailed job description which makes clear their sometimes murky duties. Even such often-ignored folks like the White House kitchen staff get notice of their own. Overall, one comes away with a real appreciation for the hundreds of individuals who contribute to keeping this country moving forward. Also filled with anecdotes (many of which I hadn't come across before), this book should definitely be of interest to anyone who follows politics.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good factual information about the White House, June 6, 2001

By 

Erin O. (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The White House Staff: Inside the West Wing and Beyond (Hardcover)

This is a very interesting book about how the White House operates and the key offices under the jurisdiction of the White House. Bradley Patterson fills his book with insight and information, yet the book is still very readable and anything but boring. This is a non-fiction account of the White House and its offices. It is not a biography nor is it one persons account of his year's in the White House. It is very much a factual account of the daily workings of what takes place in government. This is a very interesting book that I would recommend for people interested in learning more about government. It is also a very good resource for those who are doing research on the inner workings of the White House.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You Will Get A Lot of Use Out of This Book, April 19, 2002

By 

John G. Hilliard (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The White House Staff: Inside the West Wing and Beyond (Hardcover)

The reference book that makes it all comes together. Ok so the book does not really bill its self as a dull reference book but it has all the info needed to understand who does what in the White House. The book is anything but dull, the author has broken down the different departments within the White House and explains each of them in just a wonderful, easy to understand manner. In order to stay away from just a dull listing of the tasks the author drops in interesting facts and stories from the last few administrations that bring extra meaning and understanding to the explanations.

A good, well-written book that will help the reader understand who does what in the White House.