A good documentary will keep you riveted vis a vis its subject matter.
I thought about this while watching Discovery’s two-part documentary “The Presidents’ Gatekeepers,” premiering Wednesday night.
Yes, its subject — a behind-the-scenes look at the jobs of White House chiefs of staff — is interesting.
But it’s the men themselves, interviewed by filmmakers Gedeon and Jules Naudet (famous for their Sept. 11 documentary, “9/11”), that makes “The Presidents’ Gatekeepers” so absorbing.
Their stories are at turns intense, emotional, angry and humorous — and will capture your attention. The Naudets have assembled, for the first time ever, all 20 of the surviving White House chiefs of staff. And while each man recounts his own personal joys, sorrows and frustrations while serving his president — Vietnam, Watergate, economic crises, assassination attempts and Sept. 11 among them — they share a special bond that crosses party lines.
If it sounds like a thankless job, these men say it often is — before adding that, to a man, they wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.
The chiefs interviewed here — including James Baker, Rahm Emanuel, Leon Panetta, Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney — have their own descriptions of the job, ranging from “a point guard on a basketball team” (Jack Watson, who served President Carter) to “A heat shield for the president” (Cheney, who served President Ford).
“You have to be willing to speak truth to power,” says Baker (who served President Reagan), while Panetta recounts the “purple-faced” rage of his boss, President Clinton.
Former presidents George H.W. Bush and Carter are also interviewed about how much they relied on their chiefs.
It’s no coincidence that the doc premieres on the anniversary of Sept. 11. Andrew Card, President George W. Bush’s chief of staff, dramatically describes breaking the news of the attacks to the president in front of school children in Florida (whispering in the president’s ear, “A second plane hit the second tower — America is under attack”).
There’s some dark humor, too. Rumsfeld recounts how President Ford, hustled into his limo after the 1976 attempt on his life, said (in a muffled voice) to the men piled on top of him, “C’mon, you guys, get off of me. You’re heavy.”
Great stuff.