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.

Abraham Lincoln and his secretaries John G. Nicolay and John Hay photographed by Alexander Gardner on November 8, 1863 in Washington, D.C.

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. By Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, the White House staff had grown to three.

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. 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.

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; it even merited an oath of office. 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 each – increased from $7,200) 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" ), the second his Confidential Secretary, and the third his Appointments and Press Secretary.

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)	Image	Secretary	President
1789–1793 1794–1797		Tobias Lear	George Washington
1789–1791		Maj. William Jackson
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
1817–1820		Joseph Jones Monroe	James Monroe
1820–1825		Samuel L. Gouverneur
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	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

Private Secretary to the White House

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

Secretary to the President

Year(s)	Image	Secretary	President
1897–1900		John Addison Porter	William McKinley
1900–1903		George B. Cortelyou
			Theodore Roosevelt
1903–1909		William Loeb Jr.
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
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
1944–1952		William D. Hassett
			Harry S. Truman
1952–1953		Beth Campbell Short

Appointments Secretary

Year(s)	Image	Secretary	President
1929–1931		George E. Akerson	Herbert Hoover
1931–1933		Ted Joslin
1933–1938		Marvin H. McIntyre	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1938–1945		Edwin "Pa" Watson
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	John F. Kennedy
1963–1965		Jack Valenti	Lyndon B. Johnson
1965–1968		W. Marvin Watson
1968–1969		James R. Jones
1969–1973		Dwight Chapin	Richard Nixon
1973–1974		Stephen B. Bull
1974–1977		Warren S. Rustand	Gerald Ford
1977–1978		Timothy Kraft	Jimmy Carter
1978–1981		Phil J. Wise

Personal secretary to the president

Year(s)	Image	Secretary	President
1933–1941		Missy LeHand	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1941–1945		Grace Tully
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
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
2021–2022		Ashley Williams	Joe Biden
2022–2024		Julia Reed
2024–present		Drew Rodriguez

Sources

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