The office is also referred to as a "permanent government", since many policy programs, and the people who are charged with implementing them, continue between presidential administrations.
The civil servants who work in the Executive Office of the President are regarded as nonpartisan and politically neutral, so they are capable of providing objective and impartial advice.
With the increase in technological and global advancement, the size of the White House staff has increased to include an array of policy experts responsible for managing various federal governmental functions and policy areas. As of 2015, it included approximately 1,800 positions, most of which did not require confirmation from the U.S. Senate.
The office is overseen by the White House chief of staff. Since January 20, 2025, that position has been held by Susie Wiles, who was appointed by President Donald Trump. She is the first woman to hold the title.
In 1937, the Brownlow Committee, which was a presidentially commissioned panel of political science and public administration experts, recommended sweeping changes to the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, including the creation of the Executive Office of the President. Based on these recommendations, President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1939 lobbied Congress to approve the Reorganization Act of 1939. The Act led to Reorganization Plan No. 1, which created the office, which reported directly to the president.
The office encompassed two subunits at its outset, the White House Office (WHO) and the Bureau of the Budget, the predecessor to today's Office of Management and Budget, which was created in 1921 and originally located in the Treasury Department. It absorbed most of the functions of the National Emergency Council. Initially, the new staff system appeared more ambitious on paper than in practice; the increase in the size of the staff was quite modest at the start. However, it laid the groundwork for the large and organizationally complex White House staff that emerged during the presidencies of Roosevelt's successors.
Roosevelt's efforts are also notable in contrast to those of his predecessors in office. During the 19th century, presidents had few staff resources. Thomas Jefferson had one messenger and one secretary at his disposal, both of whose salaries were paid by the president personally. It was not until 1857 that Congress appropriated money ($2,500) for the hiring of one clerk.
By Ulysses S. Grant's presidency (1869–1877), the staff had grown to three. By 1900, the White House staff included one "secretary to the president" (then the title of the president's chief aide), two assistant secretaries, two executive clerks, a stenographer, and seven other office personnel. Under Warren G. Harding, there were thirty-one staff, although most were in clerical positions.
During Herbert Hoover's presidency, two additional secretaries to the president were added by Congress, one of whom Hoover designated as his press secretary. 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, who were often appointed to vacant positions in agencies and departments, from which they drew their salaries since the White House lacked statutory or budgetary authority to create new staff positions.
After World War II, in particular, during the Eisenhower presidency, the staff was expanded and reorganized. Eisenhower, a former U.S. Army general, had been Supreme Allied Commander during the war and reorganized the Executive Office to suit his leadership style.
As of 2009, the staff is much bigger. Estimates indicate some 3,000 to 4,000 persons serve in office staff positions with policymaking responsibilities, with a budget of $300 to $400 million (George W. Bush's budget request for FY2005 was for $341 million in support of 1,850 personnel).
Some observers have noted a problem of control for the president due to the increase in staff and departments, making coordination and cooperation between the various departments of the Executive Office more difficult.
The president has the power to reorganize the EOP under the 1949 Reorganization Act, which gave the president considerable discretion. The law was renewed in 1983, after President Reagan's administration allegedly encountered "disloyalty and obstruction" in the ranks of EOP personnel.
The chief of staff is the head of the Executive Office of the President and can therefore ultimately decide what the president needs to deal with personally and what can be dealt with by other staff.
Senior staff within the Executive Office of the President have the rank of assistant to the president, second-level staff are deputy assistant to the president, and third-level staff are special assistant to the president.
The information in the following table is current as of January 20, 2025. Only principal executives are listed; for subordinate officers, see individual office pages.
Members of the Executive Office of the President of the United States
The White House Office (including its various offices listed below) is a sub-unit of the Executive Office of the President. The various agencies of the EOP are listed above.
Congress and the president share control over the Executive Office of the President. Congressional authority over the office stems from its appropriation power under the Constitution (power of the purse), which affects the Office of Management and Budget and the funding of all other federal departments and agencies. Congress also has the right to investigate the operation of the EOP, and can summon individual EOP personnel to testify before its various committees.
The Executive Office often helps with legislation by filling in specific points understood and written by experts, as congressional legislation sometimes starts in broad terms.
Budget history
This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2025)
This table specifies the budget of the Executive Office for the years 2008–2017, and the actual outlays for the years 1962–2023.
↑Roosevelt, Franklin D. (April 25, 1939). "Message to Congress on the Reorganization Act". John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. Santa Barbara: University of California. Retrieved May 6, 2011.
↑Mosher, Frederick C. (1975). American Public Administration: Past, Present, Future (2nded.). Birmingham: University of Alabama Press. ISBN0817348298.
↑Roosevelt, Franklin D. (May 9, 1939). "Message to Congress on Plan II to Implement the Reorganization Act". John T. Woolley and Gerhard Peters. The American Presidency Project. Santa Barbara: University of California. Retrieved May 6, 2011. The plan provides for the abolition of the National Emergency Council and the transfer to the Executive Office of the President of all its functions except for the film and radio activities which go to the Office of Education.
↑Burke, John P. (1992). The institutional presidency. Interpreting American politics. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press. p.4. ISBN978-0-8018-4316-7.
↑Calhoun, Charles W. (2017). The presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. American presidency series. Lawrence (Kan.): University Press of Kansas. p.77. ISBN978-0-7006-2484-3.
↑Sander, Alfred D. (1989). A staff for the president: the executive office, 1921-1952. Contributions in political science (1. publed.). New York: Greenwood Pr. pp.52–53. ISBN978-0-313-26526-6.
↑Patterson, Bradley H. (1994). "Teams and Staff: Dwight Eisenhower's Innovations in the Structure and Operations of the Modern White House". Presidential Studies Quarterly. 24 (2): 277–298. JSTOR27551241.
