President-elect Donald Trump didn’t have to search long to choose his new White House chief of staff. He addressed the woman who has played an important role in his last three campaigns: Susie Wiles of Florida.
Wiles, 67, the soft-spoken grandmother who helped organize Trump’s often raucous and controversial campaign into a disciplined and powerful machine behind the scenes, will now be one of the most powerful people in the executive office.
This is Wiles Trump’s first official appointment for his new administration. But what exactly will she do?
What does the White House Chief of Staff do?
The Chief of Staff wields enormous influence in the government, serving as both a confidant to the President and a gatekeeper to the Oval Office, with daily access to the President and control over the Executive Office.
One of the chief of staff’s most important jobs is to occasionally tell the president hard truths he doesn’t want to hear, which may have led to Trump going through four: Reince Priebus, John Kelly, Mick Mulvaney (who was more than acting chief of staff for a year) and Mark Meadows – in his first term. But Trump and Wiles have had a good working relationship over the years, and her reportedly calming presence and preference for staying out of the spotlight could help her if Trump’s second administration takes on as many blows as the first.
Will Susie Wiles be the first female White House chief of staff?
Yes. All 31 previous chiefs of staff were men.
Numerous deputy chiefs of staff with varying responsibilities have been women, most recently Jen O’Malley Dillon, Anne Tomasini and Natalie Quillian in the Biden administration, and Kirstjen Nielsen, Emma Doyle and Katie Walsh in Trump’s first term.
There has been a presidential chief of staff who was a woman, but not while the president was in power. After his term of office, Jean Becker served as chief of staff to former President George HW Bush.
Fans of “The West Wing” will remember CJ Cregg, played by Allison Janney, the first White House press secretary and then chief of staff to fictional President Josiah Bartlett (Martin Sheen).
Revolving door in the White House
Presidents often hire different chiefs of staff during their time in the White House.
Trump had four during his first term: Reince Priebus in 2017, John F. Kelly in 2017-19, Mick Mulvaney in 2019-20 and Mark Meadows in 2020-21.
Another Republican president, George HW Bush, appointed three White House chiefs of staff during his single term: John Sununu in 1989-91, Samuel Skinner in 1991-92, and James Baker in 1992-93.
The revolving door in the White House is twofold. Democratic President Barack Obama had five chiefs of staff during his two terms: Rahm Emanuel in 2009-2010, Pete Rouse in 2010-11, Bill Daley in 2011-2012, Jack Lew in 2012-2013 and Denis McDonough in 2013-2017.
The chiefs of staff typically have active careers before and after their jobs in the White House.
Emanuel left the White House to run for mayor of Chicago. He defeated five other candidates and served from 2011-2019. Before the White House, Emanuel represented Illinois in the U.S. House from 2002 to 2008.
Before his job with Bush in the White House, Sununu represented Salem in the New Hampshire Legislature in 1973-74, then served as the state’s governor in 1983-89.
After the White House, Sununu was a familiar face to CNN viewers as co-host of the cable network’s series “Crossfire” in 1992-98.
Who was the first White House Chief of Staff?
Democratic President Harry S. Truman called John Steelman, who served during both of Truman’s terms, “the Assistant to the President of the United States” from 1946 to 1953.
“They wanted to call me chief of staff, and I didn’t like that title. I thought it sounded too military, so we at the State Department came up with the idea,” Steelman said during a 1996 interview conducted by Independence, In Missouri-based Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.
Steelman said the word “the” before “assistant” meant No. 1 among the president’s White House staff.
The first man to hold the title of “chief of staff” was Sherman Adams, who served under Republican President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953-58. That was followed by Eisenhower’s second chief, Wilton Persons in 1958-61, according to the Chief of Staff Association.
Kenneth O’Donnell served as chief of staff to Democratic President John F. Kennedy in 1961-63. Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson had two chiefs of staff: Marvin Watson in 1965-68 and James R. Jones in 1968-69.
White House Chief of Staff during Watergate
A chief of staff with ties to Watergate was HR Haldeman, Republican President Richard Nixon’s first chief of staff. Haldeman, whose official title was “assistant to the president,” resigned on April 30, 1973 over the scandal, which also led to Nixon’s resignation the following year.
Haldeman served 18 months in Lompoc federal prison after being convicted of perjury, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He was released on parole on December 20, 1978, the same year his memoir “The End of Power,” co-written with Joseph DiMona, was published, as reported by the Yorba Linda-based Nixon Library. Haldeman died on November 12, 1993 at his home in Santa Barbara.
Dave Mason covers East County for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at dave.mason@vcstar.com or 805-437-0232.
USA TODAY contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Susie Wiles was named Trump White House chief of staff.
