As chiefs of staff across sectors, you know your role is essential. But…it never hurts to be reminded of it. In this post, we discuss why the White House was missing a chief of staff for 2 years and 179 days, underscoring the disastrous consequences of this absence.
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The Chief of Staff Association
Published: 03/05/2022 |
When President Carter took office in 1977 he defied the norms of the presidency, refusing to appoint a chief of staff for over two years. After observing the infighting and clashes of previous administrations, Carter was wary of the chief of staff role, concerned that a chief of staff would add to fractious divisions in the White House. Attempting to circumvent the need for a chief of staff, Carter opted to take on a greater personal role in directing and coordinating both the Cabinet and his staff.
Suffice to say, this plan did not play out well.
After Carter’s inauguration, his staff were in disarray. Indeed, staff did not know who was to be in charge or set meetings. Key staff members were left without clear directions or defined roles. As one presidential historian remarks of Carter, “he was an engineer, but tolerated disorganization to a distressing degree.”
While staff ultimately found their way through this disorderly system, in a 1979 piece for the Atlantic, one ex speechwriter reflected that “a year was wasted as we blindly groped for answers and did for ourselves what a staff coordinator could have done.”
In taking a more ‘hands-on role’ in the day to day functioning of the cabinet, Carter also hindered his ability to devise an effective long-term strategy. Caught up in the details, he seemingly lost track of the bigger picture.
Ultimately, Carter was unable to avoid the infighting which originally dissuaded him from appointing a chief of staff as his cabinet and staff began to conflict with one another resulting in a mass resignation. In the end, his hesitance to appoint a chief of staff only damaged his presidency.
The vital role of chiefs of staff often goes unrecognized. When things are running smoothly in an organisation, it is largely taken for granted and the role of the chief of staff in quelling problems before they arise is largely unseen.
It is when a chief of staff isn’t present, as in the Carter presidency, that the disastrous consequences of neglecting the importance of the chief of staff role become apparent.
Fallows, J. (1979). The Passionless Presidency. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1979/05/the-passionless-presidency/308516/
Feigenbaum, E. D. (1980). Staffing, Organization, and Decision-Making in the Ford and Carter White Houses. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 10(3), 364–377. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27547593
Troy, T. (2021). The Role of The Chief of Staff in Managing White House Conflict. The Chief of Staff, 3, 34-40. https://www.csa.org/journal/the-role-of-the-chief-of-staff-in-managing-white-house-conflict/
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