The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs Shape Every Presidency

The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs Shape Every Presidency by Chris Whipple

I got this book from First To Read. I actually used my points (for 3 books that go around the only way it seems I can get a book lately) because the topic interested me. We hear about the chief of staff at the White House but what do we really know?

Here is my review:

Stars: 5

I really enjoyed this book! I found it to be very short when you consider the subject matter. I feel like the author could've make the book twice as long and still be missing something. It merely touches on some of the big events that have shaped our country since Nixon.

Gatekeepers covers the Chiefs of Staff for the President from Nixon to Obama, each with his own chapter (the Reagan Era earned 2 mostly due to his first Chief of Staff, James Baker), highlighting a known but not too well known character in the story that is the American government. Some lasted a long time (5 1/2 years) some not quite a long time (I believe one lasted less than year). It is not an easy job, not even when the country isn't in crisis. Trying to help the man governing a country of 300+ million is not an easy task as 300+ million people will all try to tell you how you are doing it wrong.

Whipple shows how the chief of staff helped (or hurt) the president during major events that have happened over the last 50 years such as Watergate, 9/11, and various financial crises. Watching these events from the outside, it was eye opening to see how it worked from the inside.

The Chief of Staff is a position many American's know about, mainly due to the West Wing tv show, but that was just a show and I found it enthralling to learn the history of the position and how it changed with the man behind the title.

I found it easier to read once I got towards the end of the chapter on Bush and into the Clinton chapter as these were presidents I remember, events I remember. While I was alive during Reagan, I was barely 6 when he left the office. I'm not sure if that will be the case for everyone else but reading about things you remember sometimes provides you with a visual that really gets you into the work.

Recommend: I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know more about how the executive branch functions, heck any branch of our government. I really feel like in the future, political science professors will be assigning this book to their students. It made me want to go out and read biographies on the various presidents discussed.

The book comes out April 4th and can be purchased here. Enjoy!!!