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Joshua "Josh" Lyman
Jewish White House Advisor on West Wing Show
Not Really Jewish - Christian Name is Bradley Whitford
Joshua "Josh" Lyman is a fictional character played
by Bradley Whitford on the television drama The West Wing. For the
majority of the series, he was White House Deputy Chief of Staff and
Chief Political Adviser in the Josiah Bartlet administration.
Although he focused on domestic legislative affairs, the episode
"Memorial Day" reveals that Josh holds the foreign diplomatic rank
equivalent to that of a three-star general.
Josh is portrayed as having one of the sharpest minds on the
President's staff; he is a witty, somewhat cocky, boyishly charming
know-it-all. He is described by Will Bailey as "After Leo...the
finest political mind in the party" ("Opposition Research").
Creation and development
Aaron Sorkin, the creator of The West Wing, originally wrote Josh
Lyman with long-time friend Bradley Whitford in mind. An early draft
of the pilot script, dated February 6, 1998, describes Josh as being
aged 38 and "a highly regarded brain."[1] After reading the script,
Whitford says he loved the character immediately and "desperately
wanted" the part. While his audition impressed the show's executive
producers, with Sorkin describing it as "simply the best audition
for anything I'd ever seen,"[2] Warner Brothers casting director
John Levey was not convinced Whitford had enough sex appeal to play
a lead character and executive producer Thomas Schlamme was
concerned that he did not have enough depth to carry off the more
dramatic scenes. After a second audition, Whitford was offered the
role of Sam Seaborn. Whitford called Sorkin for help. "I just said,
'Aaron, I just feel this very strongly. This isn't about me wanting
a job. This is the only time in my life I will play this card. I am
this guy; I am not the other guy.'" Sorkin was impressed, and soon
after Whitford was cast as Josh.[3] In the very early episodes of
the series, Josh was portrayed as overly tough and outspoken, but
had mellowed by the end of season one, becoming more eager and
simplistic in his personal demeanor, even switching places with Toby
as the "hotheaded" one, as well as becoming much more markedly
disorganized.
In researching for the role, Whitford says he found former Clinton
communications director George Stephanopoulos's book All Too Human
very helpful, "just because it gave a sense of the sort of smell and
the texture and the level of intimacy with the president, which I
was just unaware of."[4]
Josh shares his name with a character in the Garry Trudeau cartoon
strip Doonesbury, a White House deputy cabinet liaison [5]
encountered by Doonesbury regular Joanie Caucus. A framed copy of a
Doonesbury strip hangs in Josh's office.[6] The character is said to
be based in part on Rahm Emanuel,[7] although executive producer
Lawrence O'Donnell denies this claim.[8] In the season 1 episode,
'Mandatory Minimums', Josh is called "Rambo" by one of the staff
after an intense telephone conversation.
Character biography
Personal history
Josh comes from Westport, Connecticut. A Fulbright scholar,[9] he
graduated cum laude from Harvard University (where he worked at the
Harvard Crimson), and Yale Law School,[10][11] graduating c.
1984.[12] He has been known to boast that he scored a 760 on the
verbal portion of his SAT,[13] although he claims, when trying to
explain his lack of skill in serious relationships, his IQ does not
"break the bank," so he had to work hard in college and law school
to do well.[14]
Josh is a non-practicing Jew; his grandfather was held in the Nazi
concentration camp Birkenau during World War II.[15] He had an elder
sister, Joanie, who died when he was a child. She was babysitting
him when a fire broke out in her home, and she died trying to put
out the fire while Josh ran outside - an event which haunted
Josh.[16] Josh is an avid New York Mets fan, once trying to finish
all of his work quickly in order to travel to a Mets intrasquad
spring training game in Port St. Lucie, Florida [17] His father,
Noah Lyman, was a litigator and an old friend of Leo McGarry.
Although Josh thinks he would have preferred grandchildren to a son
in politics, Noah was proud that Josh was working for Bartlet and
often bragged about his son to his friends and neighbors. He died in
1998 on the night of the Illinois primary, after developing an
unexpected pulmonary embolism while undergoing chemotherapy for an
unspecified form of cancer.[18] His mother splits her time between
Westport and West Palm Beach, Florida, before she sells the
Connecticut house.[19]
Professional history
Before working for President Josiah Bartlet, Josh worked as the
Chief of Staff for Congressman Earl Brennan, floor manager for the
Minority Whip,[10] Democratic legislative director in the House of
Representatives and Democratic floor director in the Senate.[20]
Josh later became a staffer for then-Senator John Hoynes, the
presumptive Democratic nominee for President in 1998. However,
Hoynes's tendency to go against Josh's advice, and to prioritize
politics over Hoynes's own ideas and convictions frustrates Josh.
Thirteen weeks before the New Hampshire primary, Josh receives a
visit from Leo McGarry, an old friend of his father's. At Leo's
request, Josh travels to New Hampshire to hear Bartlet speak. He is
so impressed by Bartlet's prioritizing conviction and honesty over
popularity, that he immediately leaves Hoynes' campaign to work for
Bartlet; he also recruits his old friend Sam Seaborn to the
campaign.[21]
Shortly after joining the Bartlet for America campaign, Josh hires
recent college dropout Donnatella Moss as his assistant despite her
apparent lack of qualification.[18] Donna remained as Josh's
assistant for most of the series since then. A largely unspoken
friendship, and romantic tension, exist between the two for the
majority of the series.
Josh's defection from the Hoynes campaign later leads to an odd
working relationship with his former boss when Josh is appointed
President Bartlet's deputy chief of staff and Hoynes, his Vice
President. While tension clearly exists between them, Josh often
comes to Hoynes' defense (though he also gives tacit support to an
abortive plan to cut Hoynes from the 2002 ticket in favor of Admiral
Fitzwallace, and it's shown that Hoynes' top defender amongst the
senior staffers is Sam which possibly due to Sam's staunch idealism
and strict loyalty to those around him).
In the first season finale, Josh is critically wounded by gunfire
from white supremacists during an assassination attempt on
African-American presidential aide Charlie Young. Josh undergoes
fourteen hours of surgery and is subsequently put through intensive
psychotherapy with psychiatrist Stanley Keyworth after displaying
symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including raising his
voice to President Bartlet in the Oval Office and breaking a window
in his apartment.
Though idealistic like every other member of the Bartlet
administration, Josh is perhaps the most willing to resort to less
than honorable tactics and has, on occasion, been known to suggest
solutions and methods that others in the staff see as less than
honorable, as befits his role as the senior staff's attack dog. It
is not unknown for Josh to resort to threats, intimidation, lies and
even blackmail, to achieve what needs to be done for the Bartlet
administration.
Josh's position in the Bartlet administration is temporarily
compromised after he leaks information to the press about an
anonymous hold on military promotions placed by Idaho Senator Chris
Carrick. Carrick had been trying to secure a promise from the White
House that a missile defense system would be built in his home
state, but Josh's competitive nature will not allow him to make a
compromise. After the leak, Senator Carrick releases the hold but
resigns from the Democratic Party, informing Josh that he will seek
re-election as a Republican and citing Josh as a key reason for his
defection.
The embarrassment to the administration and to the party leads Leo
to leave Josh out of key budget negotiations, negotiations which
eventually result in a complete shutdown of the federal government.
Josh soon finds himself stripped of much of his political authority,
as freelance political advisor Angela Blake takes up many of his
duties. He eventually returns from isolation after the First Lady
pointedly asks President Bartlet "Where's Josh?" Josh is the only
senior staffer to support the President's firm stand against Speaker
Jeff Haffley; the President's eventual political victory over
Haffley during this conflict is largely due to Josh's advice.
Towards the end of Bartlet's administration, John Hoynes publishes
an autobiography as the first step in his return to politics; the
book devotes many pages to praising Josh, whom Hoynes attempts to
recruit as manager for Hoynes's presidential campaign. Josh decides
that he doesn't want Hoynes (or current VP Bob Russell) to be
President, and instead convinces Texas Congressman Matt Santos to
run for president, much in the same way Leo McGarry recruited
Bartlet eight years prior.
Josh leaves his position at the White House to run the dark horse
Presidential campaign of Congressman Matt Santos of Texas; leaving
his legislate portfolio to be taken up by Clifford Calley. The
Santos campaign initially loses the Iowa caucus, comes in third in
the New Hampshire primary at 19% and goes on to win a
come-from-behind victory in the California primary. Santos wins the
Texas primary and the final New Jersey primary by a slim margin.
Going into the Democratic National Convention no candidate has
enough delegates to win the nomination, with delegates split between
front runner Vice President Bob Russell, Rep. Santos and former Vice
President John Hoynes. At the convention Pennsylvania Governor Eric
Baker attempts an upstart campaign from the convention floor that
further fractures the delegates. Ultimately Santos wins the
nomination after a inspiring convention speech that was expected to
be his concession, and behind the scenes maneuvering by President
Bartlet. Josh is influential in recruiting Leo McGarry as the vice
presidential nominee, and rises to become campaign manager for the
Santos/McGarry Campaign. (The Santos nomination is similar to the
struggles that Governor Bartlet had in his dark horse victory over
Senator Hoynes during the 1998 campaign.)
After Matt Santos is elected President of the United States in a
narrow victory over Republican Senator Arnold Vinick, Josh becomes
the White House Chief of Staff of the incoming Santos
Administration. In his last appearance in the series, he is meeting
privately with President Santos in the Oval Office.
Relationships with other characters and with the series
Leo McGarry
John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry, described his character's
relationship with Josh as a mentoring one, with Leo regarding Josh
as a younger version of himself.[22] Leo was an old friend of Josh's
father, Noah Lyman. It is this connection that Leo used to get Josh
to travel and see then Gov. Bartlet speak and later to join Governor
Bartlet's presidential campaign in the first place.[23]
Assistant Secretary of State Albie Duncan refers to Josh as "McGarry's
boy,"[24] and Bartlet believes that Josh would throw out the baby,
the bath water and the bathtub in order to avoid letting Leo
down.[25] Both have shown strong loyalty to one another, with Josh
going to great lengths to prevent damaging details of Leo's past
drug addiction and alcoholism from being made public[26] and Leo
supporting Josh as he struggles with post traumatic stress disorder,
promising that "as long as I got a job, you got a job."[27] After
Leo's death, President Bartlet says that Leo thought of Josh as a
son.[28]
Donna Moss
Josh's assistant Donna Moss, portrayed by Janel Moloney, was
originally slated to be a minor recurring character; however, the
chemistry between the two actors caught producers' attention early
on. After seeing Moloney and Whitford perform together in the pilot,
Aaron Sorkin added a scene in which Donna argues with Josh to change
his shirt before attending a meeting, eventually convincing him by
saying that "All the girls think you look really hot in this shirt."
Although Mandy Hampton was originally intended to be Josh's romantic
interest, by the end of the show's first season the character had
been written out and the role taken over by Donna.
During the first four seasons, the relationship remains in stasis,
with neither daring to make any real romantic move on the other.
Sorkin admits that he was more inclined to move the relationship
forward, but every time he discussed the possibility fellow
executive producer Thomas Schlamme would shout, "No! Wait another
year!" Besides, adds Sorkin, "Sexual and romantic tension is, to me,
much more fun than taking the tension away by having the sex and
romance."[29]
Other characters occasionally speculate on the pair's relationship.
When Donna encourages Josh to ask Joey Lucas on a date, Joey guesses
that Donna is attempting to cover her own feelings for Josh through
misdirection.[30] During the same episode Josh and Sam Seaborn
discuss why Donna was being so pushy about asking out Joey Lucas;
Josh comments that he wonders why Donna wouldn't be jealous to which
Sam asked if Josh gets jealous when Donna has dates. Josh says he
doesn't but does everything in his power to stop or hinder the dates
from happening. During her first meeting with Josh, Amy Gardner asks
him if he is dating his assistant,[31] and later asks Donna
directly, "Are you in love with Josh?", we do not see Donna's
answer.[32] When Donna recruits Josh to help her get a date with
Jack Reese, Josh's behavior leads Jack to wonder whether he is
getting "in between anything".[33]
Following Sorkin and Schlamme's departure from the series at the end
of the fourth season, the relationship takes some new turns, with
Donna attempting to broaden her horizons past Josh and pursue her
own social life outside of the White House. When Donna is badly
injured in a terrorist attack in Gaza, Josh rushes overseas to keep
vigil at her bedside at a military hospital in Germany. In the sixth
season episode "Impact Winter," Donna finally breaks loose and quits
her job as assistant to Josh, seeing no chance of career
advancement. She begins working for Vice President Bob Russell's
presidential campaign. Around the same time, Josh leaves his job to
work on Matt Santos' campaign. This puts Donna and Josh in direct
confrontation as their candidates battle each other for the
Democratic Nomination. Santos beats Russell for the Democratic
nomination in the season 6 finale "2162 Votes." Donna wants to
return as Josh's deputy in season 7 premiere "The Ticket," but he
finds himself forced to reject her as she is on record trashing his
candidate while she was still working for the other team. During
their conversation he reveals that he misses her "every day." Donna
is eventually hired anyway and Josh gets over his objections when he
realizes her past working for Russell is not a problem for the
Santos campaign.
In the season seven episode "The Cold," Josh and Donna kiss
passionately as she brings him the good news that Congressman Santos
has caught up to Vinick and that they are tied in the national
tracking polls. Josh apologizes, saying the kiss was
"inappropriate", but Donna says "it was bound to happen sometime."
Donna talks to Will, who says pursuing a relationship with Josh
wouldn't be inappropriate, and to talk to C.J. about the matter.
Later in the episode, Donna discreetly leaves the key to her hotel
room on the table for Josh, but Edith Ortega notices the key before
Josh can retrieve it and returns the key to Donna. In "Election
Day," Josh and Donna consummate their relationship, sleeping
together twice, both times on her initiative. Donna gives Josh four
weeks to figure out "what they want from each other." She insists
that if this cannot happen within four weeks, their relationship
will remain in a constant state of ambiguity, which is not what
Donna wants. After talking to Lou as well as his deputy-of-choice
Sam Seaborn, Josh realizes that he desperately needs to take a break
from work. At the end of the episode, Josh and Donna go on vacation
together.
In the series finale "Tomorrow," Josh and Donna wake up in bed
together on the morning of Inauguration Day – ten weeks after Donna
set the four week deadline.
Sam Seaborn
Sam is Josh's best friend, to the point that Sam considers him a
brother.[34] After Leo recruited Josh to the campaign, Josh's first
stop was to recruit Sam (who was working, unhappily, at a law firm)
to join them. Although from opposite coasts and possessing
distinctly different personalities (Sam is polite, organized, and
awkward while Josh is more harried, aggressive, and cocky) the two
manage to be very much in sync and possess a common intellect, sense
of humor and idealism. As two of the youngest members of the senior
staff they occasionally get themselves in trouble for various
schemes and incidents, usually with the best intentions. Both of
them share a very similar gap between their professional and
personal competence—they are both portrayed as immature,
simple-minded and lacking in common sense when it comes to
unimportant issues, but in contrast, are extremely effective and
brilliant at their jobs. Much like the relationship between Jed
Bartlet and Leo McGarry, Josh and Sam's friendship extends far past
their role as co-workers and the two are each other's confidants on
personal matters and relationship troubles. They even spend some
holidays together when not going home.[35]
After Sam leaves the White House at the end of Bartlet's first term
to run for Congress, the role of Josh's counterpart is taken over by
Toby Ziegler although that relationship becomes frayed due to Josh
also leaving the White House to run the presidential campaign of
Matthew Santos. After Santos is elected, once again Josh quickly
resolves to include Sam (who lost his Congressional bid) by offering
him the position of Deputy Chief of Staff, which Sam ultimately
accepts, though after giving a frazzled Josh an ultimatum: get
much-needed R&R for a few weeks or watch Sam return to California
and never come back. Josh and Sam's last scene shows them together
in the Oval Office for the new President's first briefing.
Toby Ziegler
Josh has a complex relationship with Toby throughout the show's run.
The two do not have much in common (one of their few unifying
traits, their mutual Judaism, is negated by Toby's tendency to imply
Josh doesn't really count as Jewish) and are often at odds on policy
matters, Josh being more pragmatic while Toby is more idealistic.
They still respect one another tremendously, though, and tend to be
equally politically ambitious. When Josh leaves the White House to
run the Santos campaign, he discovers that Toby has been informally
advising dark-horse candidate Sen. Ricky Rafferty and has given her
position statements originally drawn up by the Bartlet campaign. In
a confrontation that turns physical, Toby accuses Josh of abandoning
Bartlet at a time when he was needed. Obliquely in that
conversation, and more explicitly in the next season, Toby admits to
Josh that one reason for his anger was that he wanted to run a
campaign with Josh. Toby was also affected by the recent suicide of
his brother, who was diagnosed with cancer. Toby complained that he
could have had years, but instead he just walked away; unable to
express his anger at his brother for abandoning him, he projected it
onto Josh. Their anger expressed and confronted, the two appear to
repair their professional relationship, and Josh seeks Toby's advice
covertly throughout the general election campaign.
Will Bailey
When Will started working for the White House Josh and Will
developed a working friendship and was not initially angered by
Will's defection to work with the Vice President. Will acknowledges
Josh as "the finest mind in the Democratic party" second only to Leo
McGarry and as such lobbies Josh to run the Vice President's
campaign. As Will put it he wanted Josh to make the Vice President a
candidate that America would vote for and when the Vice President
won the Presidency the two would work together to make him a worthy
President. Josh turns down the offer but the two work together to
stop what Josh views as a faulty Patient's Bill of Rights that the
Republican Congress was trying to pass which Will was against mainly
because it was a campaign subject that he wished the Vice President
to address. However it is through working against the bill that Josh
realizes how politically savvy Congressman Matt Santos is which
leads to Josh picking him as his "fantasy candidate" for the
Presidency several episodes later. However relationship between Josh
and Will becomes considerably antagonistic during the '06 primaries
when Josh became the campaign manager to Texas Congressman Matt
Santos as Santos ran for the Democratic Nomination just as Will's
candidate Vice President Bob Russell ran for the party's nomination.
Will can't understand why Josh would pour that political talent into
backing a candidate with such little chance of success, while Josh
questions Will's integrity, both for backing an unworthy candidate,
and for his methods. The two eventually come to a head as the
Democratic National Convention heats up, the two spark an argument
just prior to the convention in the Roosevelt Room in the west wing
of the White House which irritates Leo McGarry who had become the
Convention Chair under the orders of President Bartlet. Despite the
tough politicking between the two, their aggression disappears once
Santos is named the Democratic Presidential Nominee and the rivalry
becomes moot. Following the nomination of Santos, the two are seen
drinking beers together in the backroom of the convention.
C.J. Cregg
C.J. trusts Josh the most of all the senior staffers, and therefore
Josh shows great affection for her. She often asks Josh to look into
questions posed in her press room, which Josh almost always does.
The duo does tend to have disagreements, however, because Josh is
more arrogant while C.J. is more personable and caring. Josh
technically ranks higher than C.J. in the White House chain of
command, but that doesn't stop C.J. from getting in the face of Josh
such as when he replies to a blog called "Lemon Lyman", causing a
press stir.
President Bartlet
Throughout the series, Bartlet (along with Leo) appears as a
fatherly figure to Josh. Although flashbacks reveal that President
Bartlet initially had trouble remembering Josh's name and telling
him apart from his other advisors, the President develops a special
affection for Josh and even refers to Josh as his son in the season
two finale Two Cathedrals. When Josh's father died, Josh booked a
plane trip back to Connecticut when Bartlet made a surprise
appearance at the airport terminal. Bartlet offers his condolences
and asks Josh if he wants him to go to Connecticut with him, to
which a visibly moved Josh says no. Josh tells Bartlet that his
father was proud to have him working on the campaign, citing that
his father wanted Bartlet to win the election. Bartlet regards his
young Deputy Chief of Staff as an integral part of the machine that
makes the White House run properly; the brain behind the political
strategic planning of the administration. On one occasion, he
jokingly remarks to his friend Leo McGarry that Josh "frankly, is a
lot smarter than you." When Josh tells the President he wants to
leave the Bartlet administration to run the Santos campaign, he says
he had never imagined having the conversation, and tells Leo that he
doesn't "know how to tell him." During the primary and general
election, Josh worked to keep Santos from making any comments that
would show Bartlet in any form of negative light. An example of this
is very early in the campaign, Bartlet gave Josh some New Hampshire
dropout numbers for Santos to use when talking about education,
urging Josh to have Santos say Bartlet hadn't done enough.
Immediately after the conversation, Josh burned the numbers.
President Santos
When Josh first meets then Congressman Matt Santos he is impressed
by his conviction and sees in him the same willingness to put his
beliefs before political profit as he did in President Bartlet.
Santos at that point was ready to leave Washington and national
politics to go back to Houston and spend more time with his family.
When Josh gets caught up between offers from both major democratic
candidates for the presidential nomination 2006, Vice President Bob
Russell and former Vice President John Hoynes, he decides that he
doesn't want to work for either of them. After a discussion with his
mentor Leo McGarry Josh discovers that he already found his guy,
Congressman Santos. He flies down to Houston to pitch Santos his
plan to make him President of the United States and after a few days
Santos accepts by telling Josh "I'm in, if you're in with me". The
two start a close relationship which appears to be complicated when
they got into a number of fights, but it comes across very clear
that they care for each other, like in the Season 6 episode "La
Palabra" when Josh urged Santos not to put his personal financial
future at risk just to continue the campaign. During the general
elections campaign 2006 Santos seems to be ready to fire Josh as
Campaign manager in "The Wedding" but he keeps him on and ends up
winning the elections. In "Election Day Part II", just after the
final state (Nevada) was called, Santos looks at Josh across the
room and thanks him, acknowledging that Josh was the major architect
behind his victory. Despite their close relationship Santos has his
own mind and disagrees with Josh at times due to Josh's willingness
to resort to dirty politicking (early on in the Democratic
Primaries) and when Santos passes Josh over to run his Presidential
transition team (however Santos argues that it kept Josh from
"saying no" to the people Josh would later have to deal with in his
capacity as Santos's Chief of Staff). Despite this Santos considers
Josh his top advisor (akin to Leo McGarry to Jed Bartlet) and tends
to listen to Josh more often than not (examples would be when Josh
recommended Leo McGarry as Santos's running-mate and also when Josh
told Santos not to meddle in the Speakership race). Another example
of the connection the two have is shown when Santos begins to have
concern for Josh's well-being when Josh seems to overwork himself
during the transition. Santos questions Donna Moss about Josh's
personal life and asks her whether Josh is seeing anyone or ever has
any fun. When Josh decides to take a vacation, Santos remarks that
he would "drive Josh to the airport himself if it didn't require a
motorcade". In the final episode Josh assumes his new position as
White House Chief of Staff.
Increased focus in the series
As the series shifted focus from the Bartlet administration to the
Santos campaign during the final two seasons, Josh was removed from
the "senior staff" ensemble and became a more central figure. While
Bartlet and his staff began to appear in fewer and fewer episodes,
Josh remained key to the storyline, and many episodes dealt with his
difficulties running a campaign for an often uncooperative dark
horse candidate.
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