Physician to the President

History

Doctors who have treated the president of the United States have had a variety of titles. Presley Marion Rixey (1852-1928), a medical inspector in the United States Navy, was the first individual to serve in a full-time capacity beginning in 1901, and is notable for serving as physician to Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. However, the formal title "White House Physician" was not established until after his tenure. This title was created by an act of Congress in 1928.

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; Daniel Ruge, for example, was nearby during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, and supervised the president's immediate treatment.

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.

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.

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, 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.

Captain Sean P. Barbabella, DO, MC, USN, is the incumbent White House physician.

White House physicians

William McKinley Franklin Roosevelt Lyndon Johnson Gerald Ford Jimmy Carter George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton George W. Bush Donald Trump Joe Biden Donald Trump

Footnotes

References

• Evans, Hugh E. The Hidden Campaign: FDR's Health and the 1944 Election. Armonk, NY: Sharpe, 2002.
• 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.
• McCullough, David. Truman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2003.
• Smith, Jean Edward. Eisenhower: In War and Peace. New York: Random House, 2012.
• Steely, Skipper. Pearl Harbor Countdown: Admiral James O. Richardson. Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 2008.
• Ullman, Dana. The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books, 2007.

References

1. [http://www.parade.com/health/2009/08/16-when-the-patient-is-the-president.html Mishori, Ranit. "When The Patient Is The President."] ''[[Parade (magazine). Parade]].'' August 16, 2009.
2. [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/release-presidents-medical-exam "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. [http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/09/23/wh.doctors/ "White House Doctors: The President's Shadow."] [[CNN. CNN.com]]. September 24, 2004. Accessed May 12, 2010.
6. Fiore, Kristina. (2025-03-05). "Who Is Trump's New Doctor?". MedPage Today.
7. [http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/03/23/prsa0323.htm Hedger, Brian. "White Coats in the White House: Former Presidential Physicians Reflect On Their Service."] ''[[American Medical News]].'' March 23, 2009.
8. "White House doctors: The president's shadow".
9. (2008). "Wall Street and the Fruited Plain: Money, Expansion, and Politics in the Gilded Age". Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.
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 (United States). 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 (United States). lieutenant commander]] when his service in the White House began, and retired as a Vice Admiral. See: Deppisch, p. 90.
17. "Howard Bruenn, 90, Roosevelt's Doctor In Last Year of Life". The New York Times Company.
18. Graham began his service at the White House as a colonel. McCullough, p. 53.
19. Deppisch, p. 98; Smith, p. 676.
20. Bagg JE. (November 7, 2010). "The President's physician". Tex Heart Inst J.
21. "President's Physician: George Gregory Burkley." ''New York Times.'' July 20, 1963.
22. Gilbert, Robert E. "The Political Effects of Presidential Illness: The Case of Lyndon B. Johnson." ''Political Psychology.'' 16:4 (December 1995).
23. 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.
24. "White House Physician | Duke Medical Center Archives".
25. "James Young, M.D.".
26. "'Major General Walter Robert Tkach.' Biographies. Information. United States Air Force. No date.".
27. Saxon, Wolfgang. (February 7, 1998). "William Lukash, 66, Doctor Who Watched Over Presidents (Published 1998)". The New York Times.
28. 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.
29. [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/06/politics/06ruge.html Altman, Lawrence K. "Daniel Ruge, 88, Dies."] ''[[The New York Times. New York Times]].'' September 6, 2005.
30. [http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1985/10485a.htm "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].
31. [http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1986/121086c.htm "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.]
32. "Appointment of John E. Hutton, Jr., as Physician to the President.".
33. (February 14, 2006). "White House Doctor Cares for President". Texas A&M University Student Media.
34. ""Lawrence C. Mohr, JR., M.D., F.A.C.P., F.C.C.P." Commission Members. National Environmental Policy Commission. 2001.".
35. Altman, Lawrence K.. (January 29, 1993). "Doctor at the White House Is Dismissed (Published 1993)". The New York Times.
36. "'Brigadier General (Dr.) Richard J. Tubb.' Biographies. Information. United States Air Force. No date.".
37. (July 5, 2013). "George W. Bush Shows Off Levelland Hat During Trip to Africa". KCBD-TV.
38. (July 13, 2016). "On the Senate Floor".
39. (March 7, 2024). "Navy demoted Ronny Jackson after probe into White House behavior". [[The Washington Post]].
40. (7 March 2024). "Lawmaker who claims to be a retired rear admiral was actually demoted". [[Navy Times]].
41. "Navy veteran DO is serving as President Donald Trump's physician". American Osteopathic Association.
42. (January 25, 2021). "Biden replaces controversial White House physician". CNN.
43. Cai, Sophia. (2025-04-13). "Trump 'fully fit for duty,' White House physician says".
44. Liptak, Kevin. (January 25, 2021). "Biden replaces controversial White House physician".