Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

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The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff define every presidency, by 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 and two former presidents, award-winning journalist Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity.