Every newly elected President comes into office firmly committed to cabinet government and a smaller White House staff—and every President leaves office with a greatly expanded staff and a diminished enthusiasm for cabinet government. In this witty and truly informative book, Bradley H. Patterson, Jr., who has served n the staff of three former presidents, demonstrates that in our pluralist democracy, only a staff answerable directly to the President (and no one else) has the will and the power to implement his policies. Ring of Power is the first comprehensive account of the twenty offices and more than 3,800 men and women who make up the modern White House staff family. Drawing on innumerable interviews with present and former staffers, as well as on a variety of official and unofficial sources, Patterson provides us with an authoritative, yet vivid and anecdote-packed account of the White House office—its handling of crises and its role as implementor, coordinator and communicator of the President's will. He traces its apparently inexorable expansion under both Republican and Democrat administrations and concludes that, while by no means perfect, this anonymous and much misunderstood part of our government has performed its unique and essential role loyally and well.