Josh Lyman

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Joshua Lyman
Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman
First appearance	Pilot
Last appearance	Tomorrow ^{spoilers below}
Statistics
Occupation	Deputy White House Chief of Staff (Seasons 1-6), Santos Campaign Manager (Seasons 6-7), White House Chief of Staff (end of Season 7)
Family	Noah Lyman (father, deceased), Mother (alive), Joanie Lyman (older sister, deceased)
Portrayed by	Bradley Whitford
Created by	Aaron Sorkin

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 is Deputy White House Chief of Staff in the Josiah Bartlet administration.

Josh's character has one of the sharpest minds on the President's staff; he is a witty, somewhat cocky, boyishly charming know-it-all. He has been described by Will Bailey as "one of the finest political minds in the Democratic Party."

Towards the end of the series Josh becomes, arguably, the central character of the show.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Character biography
2 Trivia
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Character biography

[edit] Early life and family

A native of Westport, Connecticut, Josh roots for the New York Mets. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University (where he worked at the Harvard Crimson), and Yale Law School. He was also a Fulbright Scholar. Josh is a non-practicing Jew; his grandfather was held in the Nazi concentration camp Birkenau during World War II. As a 4 year-old, Josh wanted to be a ballerina, although it is unclear if he knew what a ballerina was (he liked the word).

Josh had a sister, Joanie, who died during his childhood. She had been babysitting him when a fire broke out in their home. Josh ran out of the house to safety, but his sister got trapped inside and died. This event caused Josh anguish throughout his later life, as he felt guilty for having saved himself and not having rescued his sister.

[edit] Professional history

Prior to working for President Jed Bartlet, Josh was the Chief of Staff for Congressman Earl Brennan, floor manager for the Minority Whip, and Democratic legislative director in the House and Democratic floor director in the Senate for two years each. Josh later became a staffer for then-Senator John Hoynes, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president in 1998. Hoynes's tendency to, against Josh's advice, prioritize politics over Hoynes's own ideas and convictions led to job frustration for Josh. Early in the campaign, Josh received a visit from Leo McGarry, an old friend of his father's. At Leo's request, Josh went to New Hampshire to see Josiah Bartlet speak, and was so impressed by Bartlet's prioritizing conviction and honesty over popularity, that he immediately left Hoynes' campaign to work for Bartlet; he also recruited his old friend Sam Seaborn to the campaign. Josh's defection to the Bartlet campaign would later result in an odd working relationship with Hoynes when Bartlet appointed Josh as his deputy chief of staff and Hoynes as his Vice President; while tension clearly exists between them, Josh is frequently the first in the Bartlet administration to come to Hoynes' defense, while Hoynes' affection and respect for Josh is illustrated by Hoynes' autobiography, which devotes many of its pages to praising Josh. One notable example of the complex relationship between the two was a moment when Hoynes asked Josh if he thinks Hoynes would be President had he listened to him back when Josh was still a part of Hoynes' team; Josh replies that he doesn't think Hoynes would be President, but rather, "I know it for sure."

Shortly after Josh joined the Bartlet campaign, he hired recent college dropout Donnatella Moss as his assistant despite her apparent lack of qualification. Except for a brief period during the 2006 Presidential primaries, Donna has been Josh's assistant ever since. A largely unspoken friendship, and romantic tension, exist between the two throughout the series.

On the night that Bartlet won the Illinois primary, Josh's father, respected New York attorney Noah Lyman, died of a pulmonary embolism. Josh rushed to the airport to fly home as soon as possible, and in a powerful scene, Bartlet delayed giving his victory speech in order to follow Josh to the airport and make sure he was okay.

In the first season finale, Josh was seriously wounded by white supremacists trying to assassinate African-American presidential aide Charlie Young, then in a relationship with President Bartlet's daughter Zoey. Josh underwent fourteen hours of surgery and was subsequently put through intensive psychotherapy after displaying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Josh Lyman and Leo McGarry.

Josh's position in the Bartlet administration was temporarily compromised after he leaked 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 would not allow him to make a compromise. After the leak, Senator Carrick released the hold but resigned from the Democratic Party, informing Josh that he would 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 led Leo to leave Josh out of key budget negotiations, negotiations which eventually resulted in a complete shutdown of the federal government. Josh was the only senior staffer to support the President's firm stand against Speaker Jeff Haffley.

Josh left his position at the White House to run the dark horse presidential campaign of Representative Matt Santos of Texas; he was succeeded by Clifford Calley as Deputy White House Chief of Staff. The Santos campaign initially lost the Iowa caucus, came in third in the New Hampshire primary at 19% and went on to win a come from behind victory in the California primary. Santos won the Texas primary and the final New Jersey primary by a slim margin. Going into the Democratic National Convention no candidate had 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 attempted an upstart campaign from the convention floor that further fractured the delegates. Ultimately Santos won the nomination after a stirring convention speech that was expected to be his concession, and behind the scenes maneuvering by President Bartlet. Josh was influential in recruiting Leo McGarry as the vice presidential nominee, and rose to become campaign manager for the Santos/McGarry Campaign. (The Santos nomination is similar to the struggles then Governor Bartlet had in his dark horse victory over Senator Hoynes during the 1998 campaign.)

After Matt Santos was elected President of the United States in a narrow victory over Republican Senator Arnold Vinick, Josh became 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.

[edit] Josh and Donna's relationship

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

There is a continuing, unrequited love story — or so some would say — between Josh and Donna. The pair had not only a close working relationship, but a close personal friendship as well.

Since the first episode of the show up until the middle of season 6, when Donna quit her assistant's job, the pair constantly flirted and bantered with each other:

Donna encouraged Josh to date pollster Joey Lucas in the second season, which led to two revelations: Josh intentionally sabotages Donna's dating life and Joey thought Donna was encouraging Josh to pursue her as a misdirection ploy because Donna was in love with Josh, the first overt mention of a possible romance.
Donna had a brief relationship with Republican House attorney Clifford Calley, while he was involved in the investigation of misconduct relating to the concealment of President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis. Calley, due to his personal relationship with Moss, discovered that she lied under oath about keeping a diary, forcing Josh to cut a secret deal with Calley.
Things slowly picked up through Season 4 as Donna went through a brief fling with White House military advisor Jack Reese, another Republican, a fact which did not escape Josh's notice. Meanwhile, Josh's relationship with feminist Amy Gardner ended (although the two very briefly got back together at the beginning of Season 5). Donna recruited Josh to help her land a date with Jack, and although Josh attempted to help her it did more to reveal Josh's feelings for Donna than anything else.
During a heart-to-heart talk, Amy Gardner asks Donna whether she is in love with Josh. Donna does not answer, but instead freezes for a few seconds as the scene cuts away without the audience getting to hear the answer. This is the most overt reference to a relationship between the two.
In the fifth season, on the advice of C.J. Cregg, Donna tried to broaden her horizons past Josh and pursue her own social life outside of the White House. This prompted Donna to sleep with journalist Colin Ayres while she was on a Congressional delegation to the Gaza Strip. Donna was badly injured in a terrorist attack shortly after her encounter with Colin, and both Josh and Colin rushed to her bedside at a military hospital in Germany. Colin found it strange that her boss flew across an ocean to be with her, but Josh unconvincingly claimed that he was just Donna's friend. Later, in the sixth season premiere NSF Thurmont, Colin called Josh out on his feelings for Donna while she was still in surgery and then left to go back to Gaza.
At the end of the fifth season finale Memorial Day, Josh was bringing a dozen red roses, a traditional sign of love, to Donna in her hospital room, only to find that she'd been rushed into surgery for a pulmonary embolism, the same thing that had killed his father. Donna, however, came out of the surgery fine.
During the sixth season, Donna quit her job as assistant to Josh, seeing no chance of career advancement. She joined the Russell campaign, putting her in direct confrontation with Josh.
After Santos received the Democratic nomination, the highly qualified Donna has been hired by the Santos campaign despite Josh's initial disapproval.
In the 7th season episode "The Cold", Josh and Donna kiss passionately after Donna informs Josh that Congressman Santos pulled even and ahead of Vinick in several key states and that Vinick and Santos are tied nationally in the polls. 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 the 7th season episode "Election Day", Josh and Donna consummated their relationship, sleeping together twice. Donna also comforted Josh while he was distressed over strange exit polling data and when Leo McGarry dies.
In the seventh season episode "Transition", Donna gave 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 constant state of ambiguity, which is not what Donna wants. At the end of the episode, Josh and Donna go on vacation together.
In the seventh season finale (and series finale) "Tomorrow", Josh and Donna wake up in bed together on the morning of Inauguration Day.

[edit] Trivia

The name "Josh Lyman" was first used in connection with the White House in the Garry Trudeau cartoon strip Doonesbury in 1993. The character was a White House media liaison officer working for President Bill Clinton, encountered by Doonesbury regular Joanie Caucus. Apart from the name and setting, there appears to be no other similarity with the West Wing character, although a framed copy of the strip hangs in Josh's office.

Lyman is rumored to be based on Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rahm Emanuel.[1]

When Josh complained about the nomination process in a conversation with Leo McGarry, lamenting the fact that senior party members no longer picked candidates in smoke-filled rooms, Leo suggested that he and Josh were the modern-day equivalent. In a later episode, Leo chastised Toby Ziegler for tacitly supporting underdog presidential candidate Senator Ricky Rafferty, claiming "You and Josh, barking like terriers at the heels of the party - you are the party!".

In a February 13, 2006 speech at American University in Washington, D.C., Bradley Whitford spoke about the episode in which Josh and Donna finally made love. Among his remarks: "My mother asked how my day was after filming [the scene], I said 'Well, I spent the whole day naked in bed with a beautiful woman'."

Josh—jointly with C. J. Cregg—appeared in more episodes than any other character in the series - 151 out of a total of 156.

Preceded by: Matt McConnell	Deputy White House Chief of Staff, The West Wing 1999–2005	Succeeded by: Clifford Calley
Preceded by: C.J. Cregg	White House Chief of Staff, The West Wing 2007–present	Succeeded by: Incumbent

The Bartlet Administration
The President: Josiah Bartlet First Lady: Abigail Bartlet
The Vice President John Hoynes (Seasons 1–4) Bob Russell (Seasons 5–7) Chief of Staff to the Vice President Will Bailey (Seasons 5–7) National Security Advisor Nancy McNally (Seasons 2–7) Deputy National Security Advisor Kate Harper (Seasons 5–7) Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Percy Fitzwallace (Seasons 1–5) General Nicholas Alexander (Seasons 6–7)	White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry (Seasons 1–5) C.J. Cregg (Seasons 6–7) Assistant to the Chief of Staff Margaret Hooper (Seasons 1–7) Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman (Seasons 1–6) Assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff Donna Moss (Seasons 1–6) Presidential Secretary Delores Landingham (Seasons 1–2) Deborah Fiderer (Seasons 4–7) Personal Aide to the President Charlie Young (Seasons 1–6) Chief of Staff to the First Lady Amy Gardner (Seasons 4–5)	White House Communications Director Toby Ziegler (Seasons 1–7) Will Bailey (Season 7) Deputy Communications Director Sam Seaborn (Seasons 1–4) Will Bailey (Seasons 4–5) White House Press Secretary C.J. Cregg (Seasons 1–5) Deputy Press Secretary Annabeth Schott (Season 6) Media Director Mandy Hampton (Season 1)
These are the main characters on The West Wing. For a longer and more complete list of characters, see List of characters on The West Wing.