Secretary to the President of the United States#Appointments Secretary

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.oldandsold.com/articles31n/white-house-history-11.shtml|title=White House – Secretaries To The Presidents|year=1908|publisher=Old and Sold Antiques Digest|access-date=2009-09-05|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081026204715/http://www.oldandsold.com/articles31n/white-house-history-11.shtml |archive-date = October 26, 2008|url-status=dead}} By Ulysses S. Grant's presidency, the White House staff had grown to three.{{cite web|url=http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/policy/whitehouse|title=Administration of the White House|last=Burke|first=John P.|publisher=Miller Center of Public Affairs|access-date=2008-11-06|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101117160520/http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/policy/whitehouse|archive-date=2010-11-17}}

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.{{cite book| last = Watson| first = Robert P.| title = Life in the White House| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=FDjeFogvUy4C&pg=PA87| access-date = 2009-05-18| year = 2004| publisher = SUNY Press| isbn = 978-0-7914-6098-6| page = 87| chapter = 4 }}

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;{{cite book| last = Herring| first = Pendleton| title = Presidential Leadership| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0jBJvRLMGToC&pg=PA102| access-date = 2009-05-18| year = 2006| publisher = Transaction Publishers| isbn = 978-1-4128-0556-8| page = 101| chapter = 5 }} it even merited an oath of office.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744272,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027051328/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,744272,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 27, 2010|title=The Presidency: Ted for Ted.|date=1932-05-09|magazine=Time|access-date=2009-05-18}} 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{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737311,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027215902/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737311,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 27, 2010|title=Big Job.|date=1929-02-11|magazine=Time|access-date=2009-05-09}} each – increased from $7,200{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/03/02/archives/7500-pay-for-tumulty-senate-committe-fixes-this-as-salary-of.html|title=$7,500 Pay for Tumulty|date=1913-02-03|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2009-05-18}}) 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"{{cite magazine|url=http://timeinc8-sd11.websys.aol.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737453-2,00.html|title=Description|date=1929-03-04|magazine=Time|access-date=2009-05-09}} {{dead link|date=January 2013}} ), the second his Confidential Secretary, and the third his Appointments and Press Secretary.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737311,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101027215902/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,737311,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 27, 2010|title=Big Job.|date=1929-02-11|magazine=Time|access-date=2009-05-09}}

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").

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• {{cite book| title = The Cosmopolitan| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=R5LNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA488| access-date = May 20, 2009| date = November 1900 – April 1901| publisher = University of Michigan| pages = 487–92 }}

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Category:Executive Office of the President of the United States

Category:United States presidential advisors

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