Counselor to the President

The position was created during the administration of Richard Nixon, where it was assigned a cabinet rank. The position was considered at cabinet level until 1993.[1]

During Nixon's presidency, no fewer than eight individuals held the position, with there sometimes being two or three "counselors to the president".

During the presidency of Gerald Ford, the post was shared by Robert T. Hartmann and John O. Marsh, with Rogers Morton briefly joining them in early 1976.

The position was vacant during the Jimmy Carter administration, as Carter left many senior White House positions unfilled (such as White House chief of staff) and preferred a smaller corps of advisers.[2]

Edwin Meese held the position during the first term of President Ronald Reagan, and was highly influential inside the White House. Meese, White House chief of staff James Baker and Deputy White House chief of staff Michael Deaver were nicknamed "the Troika" and considered the most influential advisors to the president.[3]

Meese became attorney general during Reagan's second term as president and the position was left vacant.

The position was left vacant in the first three years of President George H.W. Bush's term. In 1992 it was filled by Clayton Yeutter after he resigned as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

During the Bill Clinton administration, the post became much more focused on communications. Two of Clinton's counselors, David Gergen and Paul Begala, later became CNN political analysts.

During the administration of George W. Bush, the counselor oversaw the communications, media affairs, speechwriting, and press offices.[4]

Under the Obama administration, the position was initially abolished and the duties of the office transferred to three senior advisors: David Axelrod,[5][6] Pete Rouse,[6][7] and Valerie Jarrett,[8] who also held the title Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Relations and Public Liaison.[6] On January 6, 2011, President Obama appointed Rouse as counselor to the president where he was responsible for assisting the president and White House Chief of Staff with the day-to-day management of White House Staff operations.[9][10] John Podesta was the last person to hold the position before he left to join the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign of 2016 as chairman.[11]

Soon after the 2016 election, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to name his campaign manager during the general election, Kellyanne Conway, as counselor to the president[12] and his campaign CEO Steve Bannon as a senior counselor and chief strategist.[13]

After Bannon's departure from the White House in August 2017, Johnny DeStefano was given the title of counselor[14] in February 2018, with responsibility for overseeing the offices of presidential personnel, political affairs, and public liaison.

In February 2020, it was announced that former White House communications director Hope Hicks would return to the White House Office as counselor to President Donald Trump.[15]

• Senior Advisor to the President of the United States
• White House Chief Strategist