Physician to the President

Not to be confused with Chief Medical Advisor to the President.

The physician to the president is the formal and official title of the physician who the president of the United States chooses to be their personal physician. Often, the physician to the president also serves as the director of the White House Medical Unit, a unit of the White House Military Office responsible for the medical needs of the president of the United States, vice president, White House staff, and visitors.^[1] The physician to the president is also the chief White House physician.^[2]

Physician to the President
Incumbent Kevin O'Connor since January 25, 2021
Executive Branch of the U.S. Government Executive Office of the President
Appointer	The President

History

 

Major General Walter R. Tkach (second from right), Physician to the President, at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1973

Doctors who have treated the president of the United States have had a variety of titles.^[3] Presley Marion Rixey, a medical inspector in the United States Navy, was the first individual to serve in a full-time capacity as a physician to the president beginning in 1901. However, the title "White House Physician" was not used until created by an act of Congress in 1928.^[4] It has been unclear if this legal position of White House physician rests with the physician to the president or the director of the White House Medical Unit.

Organization and role

The White House physician has an office inside the White House. The location of their medical unit plays an important role in keeping the president of the United States healthy. They also oversee a staff that is typically composed of five military physicians, five physician assistants, five nurses, three paramedics, three administrators, and one IT manager. The physician to the president is metaphorically the "shadow of the president" because they (or one of the physicians assigned to the White House Medical Unit) are always close at hand whether the president is at the White House, overseas, on the campaign trail, or aboard presidential plane Air Force One;^[5] Daniel Ruge, for example, was nearby during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, and supervised the president's immediate treatment.^[6]

The physician to the president protects the president's health. The physician to the president, together with the director of the White House Medical Unit, is also responsible for managing comprehensive medical care for the members of the president's immediate family, the vice president, and the vice president's family and providing the medical support to ensure the continuity of the presidency. The physician may also provide medical care and attention to the more than 1.5 million visitors who tour the White House each year, as well as to international dignitaries and other guests of the president.

The medical office of the White House doctor is a "mini urgent-care center" containing a physician's office, private examination rooms, basic medications and medical supplies, and a crash cart for emergency resuscitation. Air Force One is equipped with emergency medical equipment, an operating table, and operating room lights installed at the center of the presidential plane for emergency use by the White House doctor.^{[5] [7]}

Ruge resigned after Reagan's first term and called his job "vastly overrated, boring and not medically challenging". Due to lack of space, Ruge could not attend most state dinners. He nonetheless had to be ready for emergencies and usually waited alone in his office wearing a tuxedo. However, Ruge stated that an advantage was that because of the position's prestige, "[a] president's physician can ask for anything, and he will get it. No doctor will refuse a request to consult". The White House physician can enter the Oval Office or Executive Residence at any time; Ruge sometimes invited experts visiting Washington to examine the president.^[6]

Selection of the physician

The White House physician is often selected personally by the president, and most White House doctors are active-duty military officers,^[5] partly because most civilians would find closing and later reopening their private practices difficult. Ruge was about to retire when Reagan chose him as his physician.^[6]

As of January 2021,^[update] Colonel Kevin O'Connor, DO, USA (Ret.) is the incumbent White House physician.^[8]

White House physicians

Some of the individuals who have acted as physicians to the president:

• 1789: Samuel Bard, MD. Bard was the first physician known to have treated a president when he lanced a boil on George Washington's thigh.^[9]
• 1789 to 1797: James Craig. Craig was a family friend of George Washington's.^[5]
• 1895: Leonard Wood, MD, USA. Wood was not only the White House physician to President Grover Cleveland in 1895 but also the personal physician of President and Mrs. William McKinley.
• 1913 to 1921: RADM Cary Travers Grayson, MD, Pharm.D., USN.^[10]
• 1921 to 1923: Charles E. Sawyer, HMD^[11]
• 1923 to 1929: Major James Francis Coupal, MD, MS, US Army^[12]
• 1929 to 1933: Commander Joel Thompson Boone, MD, US Navy^[13][14][15]
• 1933 to 1945: VADM Ross T. McIntire, MD, US Navy^[16]
• 1945: Lieutenant Commander Howard G. Bruenn, MD, US Navy
• 1945 to 1953: Major General Wallace H. Graham, MD, US Army^[17]
• 1953 to 1961: Major General Howard McCrum Snyder, MD^[18]
• 1961 to 1963: Janet G. Travell, MD^[19][20]
• 1963 to 1969: RADM George G. Burkley, MD, US Navy^[20][21][22] (concurrent from 1963 to 1966 with Capt. James Young, MD, USN^[23][24]
• 1969 to 1974: Major General Walter R. Tkach, MD, USAF^[25]
• 1974 to 1981: RADM William M. Lukash, MD, FACP, FACG, USN^[26]
• 1981 to 1985: Daniel Ruge, MD, Ph.D.^[27][6]
• 1985 to 1986: T. Burton Smith, MD^[28][29]
• 1986 to 1987: John E. Hutton, Jr., MD^[5][29]
• 1987 to 1993: Colonel Lawrence C. Mohr, Jr., MD, FACP, FCCP, US (concurrent from 1989 to 1993 with Burton J. Lee III)^{[5][7][27][30]}
• 1989 to 1993: Burton J. Lee III, MD (concurrent with Lawrence C. Mohr, Jr.)^[27][31]
• 1993 to 2001: RDML Eleanor Mariano, MD, US Navy^[5][32]
• 2002 to 2009: Brigadier General Richard J. Tubb, MD, USAF^[1][33]
• 2009 to 2013: Captain Jeffrey Kuhlman, MD, USN^[1][34]
• 2013 to 2018: RDML Ronny Jackson, MD, USN^[35][a][b]
• March 2018 to January 2021: CDR Sean Conley, DO, USN.
• From January 2021: Colonel Kevin O'Connor, DO, USA (Ret.)^[39]

Footnotes

Notes

1. Jackson was appointed Physician to the President on July 25, 2013.^[36]
2. Jackson was a captain at the time of his appointment,^[1][37] and was promoted to rear admiral. The Senate confirmed his appointment on July 13, 2016.^[38]

References

1. Mishori, Ranit. "When The Patient Is The President." Parade. August 16, 2009.
2. "Release of the President's Medical Exam." Office of the Press Secretary. The White House. February 28, 2010. Accessed May 12, 2010.
3. Deppisch, p. 4.
4. Deppisch, pp. 4, 75.
5. "White House Doctors: The President's Shadow." CNN.com. September 24, 2004. Accessed May 12, 2010.
6. Altman, Lawrence K. "Daniel Ruge, 88, Dies." New York Times. September 6, 2005.
7. Thom, Krista (February 14, 2006). "White House Doctor Cares for President". The Battalion. Texas A&M University Student Media. Archived from the original on February 3, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
8. Sean Conley: Biden replaces controversial White House physician
9. Hedger, Brian. "White Coats in the White House: Former Presidential Physicians Reflect On Their Service." American Medical News. March 23, 2009.
10. Levin, p. 45; Ferrell, The Dying President, p. 8; Deppisch, p. 87.
11. Ferrell, Ill-Advised, pp. 22, 27. The acronym HMD stands for "Doctor of Homeopathic Medicine".
12. Deppisch, p. 84.
13. Ullman, p. 198.
14. Boone was a lieutenant commander when he began his service. He was promoted to Commander at the White House, and President Hoover promoted him to the temporary rank of Captain. Hoover tried to have Boone's rank made permanent but was unsuccessful. Boone did not receive any additional promotions until after he left the White House. See: Deppisch, p. 77.
15. Boone served as Assistant Physician to presidents Harding and Coolidgebeforeo becoming personal physical to Hoover. See: Steely, p. 136. He served one month under Roosevelt. See: Evans, p. 41.
16. McIntire was a lieutenant commander when his service in the White House began, and retired as a Vice Admiral. See: Deppisch, p. 90.
17. Graham began his service at the White House as a colonel. McCullough, p. 53.
18. Deppisch, p. 98; Smith, p. 676.
19. Bagg JE (2003). "The President's physician". Tex Heart Inst J. 30 (1): 1–2. PMC 152826. PMID 12638662.; "Janet G. Travell (#8.26)." A Register of Her White House Files, 1959–1964. John F. Kennedy Library. National Archives and Records Administration. No date. November 7, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Accessed May 9, 2010.
20. "President's Physician: George Gregory Burkley." New York Times. July 20, 1963.
21. Gilbert, Robert E. "The Political Effects of Presidential Illness: The Case of Lyndon B. Johnson." Political Psychology. 16:4 (December 1995).
22. Altman, Lawrence K. "Johnson Skin Cancer Is Reported, But Widow and Physician Deny It." New York Times. June 26, 1977; Altman, Lawrence K. "Navy Confirms Johnson Had Surgery for Skin Cancer." New York Times. June 29, 1977.
23. "White House Physician | Duke Medical Center Archives". archives.mc.duke.edu.
24. "James Young, M.D."
25. "Ex-White House Physician Walter R. Tkach Dies." Washington Post. November 9, 1989; "'Major General Walter Robert Tkach.' Biographies. Information. United States Air Force. No date". Archived from the original on July 30, 2012. Accessed May 9, 2010; "Walter Tkach, 72; Served as the Doctor To Three Presidents." Associated Press. November 9, 1989.
26. Saxon, Wolfgang (February 7, 1998). "William Lukash, 66, Doctor Who Watched Over Presidents (Published 1998)". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
27. Disability, The Working Group on Presidential (October 7, 2001). Presidential Disability: Papers, Discussions, and Recommendations on the Twenty-Fifth Amendment and Issues of Inability and Disability Among Presidents of the United States. University Rochester Press. ISBN 9781580460699 – via Google Books.
28. "Appointment of T. Burton Smith as Physician to the President." Appointments & Nominations, January 4, 1985. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. National Archives and Records Administration. No date.
29. "Appointment of John E. Hutton, Jr., as Physician to the President." December 10, 1986. Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. National Archives and Records Administration. No date.
30. . Archived from the original on September 1, 2006. Retrieved May 9, 2010.
31. Altman, Lawrence K. (January 29, 1993). "Doctor at the White House Is Dismissed (Published 1993)". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
32. "Her Patients Were Presidents." Filipino Reporter. April 16–22, 2010.
33. "'Brigadier General (Dr.) Richard J. Tubb.' Biographies. Information. United States Air Force. No date". Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Accessed May 9, 2010.
34. "Miller School Hosts Capt. Jeffrey Kuhlman, Physician to the U.S. President, for Surgery Grand Rounds." Press release. Miller School of Medicine. University of Miami. July 27, 2013. October 24, 2014, at the Wayback Machine Accessed July 27, 2013.
35. "George W. Bush Shows Off Levelland Hat During Trip to Africa". KCBD-TV. July 5, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
36. . Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center Fellowship in Disaster Medicine. 2015. Archived from the original on October 21, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
37. Kuhlman, Jeffrey. "The President's First Periodic Physical Exam As President." Medical Unit. The White House. February 28, 2010. January 28, 2017, at the Wayback Machine Accessed May 9, 2010.
38. . U.S. Senate. July 13, 2016. Archived from the original on November 9, 2016. Retrieved October 20, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
39. "Biden replaces controversial White House physician". CNN. January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021. Conley generated controversy in the fall when he admitted to offering rosy descriptions of Trump's condition because the White House wanted to project optimism.

Bibliography

• Deppisch, Ludwig M. The White House Physician: A History From Washington to George W. Bush. Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007. ^{[ISBN missing]}
• Evans, Hugh E. The Hidden Campaign: FDR's Health and the 1944 Election. Armonk, NY: Sharpe, 2002. ^{[ISBN missing]}
• Ferrell, Robert H. The Dying President: Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1944-1945. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1998.
• Ferrell, Robert H. Ill-Advised: Presidential Health and Public Trust. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1992.
• Joynt, Robert J. and Toole, James F. Presidential Disability: Papers and Discussions on Inability and Disability Among U.S. Presidents. Woodbridge, Suffolk, UK: University of Rochester Press, 2001.
• Levin, Phyllis Lee. Edith and Woodrow: The Wilson White House. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2001. ^{[ISBN missing]}
• McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003.
• Smith, Jean Edward. Eisenhower: In War and Peace. New York: Random House, 2012. ^{[ISBN missing]}
• Steely, Skipper. Pearl Harbor Countdown: Admiral James O. Richardson. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2008. ^{[ISBN missing]}
• Ullman, Dana. The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2007. ^{[ISBN missing]}