White House advisors have received much more attention recently, as the American public has sought to make sense of Donald Trump’s unorthodox presidency. As the first President with no prior experience in government or the military, Trump’s personnel decisions have reignited the public’s interest in those who help shape an administration’s agenda. In an effort to find a semblance of stability within an unpredictable presidency, pundits have looked to those who have the President’s ear. Two recent books on presidential advisors do much to bring greater insight to those trying to situate the current administration within a longer history of the presidency. Kathryn Smith’s The Gatekeeper and Chris Whipple’s The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency not only share similar titles, but are linked through their respective portrayals of the figures who did much to affect the trajectory of the American presidency. Although both books are tailor-made for a wider audience, and are bound somewhat by traditional narratives about the Presidents they study, they still provide a deeper understanding of the role that advisors play in the decision-making process inside of the White House. In her book on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s longtime private secretary, Marguerite “Missy” LeHand, Kathryn Smith makes a valuable contribution to the recent wave of scholarly works, Hollywood films, and documentaries that mix the private and public lives of the Roosevelts. As a part of FDR’s “cuff links gang,” LeHand was one of the more influential women to ever work in the White House. “There had never been anyone like Missy in the WH before, and it was a long time before anyone like Missy followed,” writes Smith. The only other women—besides first ladies—who wielded as much influence over a

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塑造现代白宫的守门人

白宫顾问最近受到了更多关注，因为美国公众试图理解唐纳德特朗普非正统的总统职位。作为第一位在政府或军队中没有任何经验的总统，特朗普的人事决定重新点燃了公众对那些帮助制定政府议程的人的兴趣。为了在一个不可预测的总统任期内找到一种表面上的稳定，专家们一直在关注那些听总统的话。最近两本关于总统顾问的书为那些试图将现任政府置于更长的总统任期内的人提供了更深入的洞察力。凯瑟琳·史密斯 (Kathryn Smith) 的守门人 (The Gatekeeper) 和克里斯·惠普尔 (Chris Whipple) 的守门人：白宫幕僚长如何定义每个总统职位不仅头衔相似，但通过他们各自对影响美国总统任期轨迹的人物的描绘而联系在一起。尽管这两本书都是为更广泛的读者量身定制的，并且在某种程度上受到关于他们所研究的总统的传统叙述的约束，但它们仍然让人们更深入地了解顾问在白宫内部决策过程中所扮演的角色。在她关于富兰克林·D·罗斯福长期私人秘书玛格丽特·“小姐”勒汉德的书中，凯瑟琳·史密斯对最近的学术著作、好莱坞电影和纪录片做出了宝贵的贡献，这些作品将罗斯福的私人生活和公共生活融为一体。作为罗斯福“袖扣帮”的一员，勒汉德是有史以来在白宫工作的最具影响力的女性之一。“以前在WH从来没有像Missy这样的人，很长一段时间后，像 Missy 这样的人才跟上来，”史密斯写道。除了第一夫人之外，唯一对美国有如此大影响力的女性