"The first in-depth, behind-the-scenes look at the White House Chiefs of Staff, whose actions--and inactions--have defined the course of our country What do Dick Cheney and Rahm Emanuel have in common? Aside from polarizing personalities, both served as chief of staff to the president of the United States--as did Donald Rumsfeld, Leon Panetta, and a relative handful of others. The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers," wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and--most crucially--enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Each chief can make or break an administration, and each president reveals himself by the chief he picks. Through extensive, intimate interviews with all seventeenliving chiefs and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history, showing us how James Baker's expert managing of the White House, the press, and Capitol Hill paved the way for the Reagan Revolution--and, conversely, how Watergate, the Iraq War, and even the bungled Obamacare rollout mighthave been prevented by a more effective chief. Filled with shrewd analysis and never-before-reported details, The Gatekeepersoffers an essential portrait of the toughest job in Washington"--;Introduction: "I brought my pillow and my blankie" -- "The Lord High Executioner" : H.R. Haldeman and Richard Nixon -- "Beware the spokes of the wheel" : Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Gerald Ford -- "The smartest man in the room" : Hamilton Jordan, Jack Watson, and Jimmy Carter -- "One hell of a chief of staff " : James A. Baker III and Ronald Reagan -- "Don't hang up on the First Lady" : Donald Regan, Howard H. Baker Jr., Kenneth Duberstein, and Ronald Reagan -- "The prime minister" : John Sununu, Samuel Skinner, James A. Baker III, and George H.W. Bush -- "An iron fist in a velvet glove" : Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, Leon Panetta, Erskine Bowles, John Podesta, and Bill Clinton -- "The decider" : Andrew Card, Joshua Bolten, and George W. Bush -- "Between bad and worse" : Rahm Emanuel, William Daley, Jacob Lew, Denis McDonough, and Barack Obama.