josh lyman

Joshua 'Josh' Lyman, Deputy White House Chief of Staff is a fictional character played by Bradley Whitford on the television serial drama The West Wing. Josh originally worked for Senator John Hoynes, Bartlet's opponent for the Democratic nomination in 1998. However, at the request of Josh's father's old friend Leo McGarry, Josh went to New Hampshire to see Jed Bartlet speak, and immediately left Hoynes's campaign to work for Bartlet. Since Hoynes later became Bartlet's first Vice President, this was a source of tension between Josh and Hoynes in later episodes—with Hoynes specifically asking Josh in Season One if he thought that, had Josh not left the Hoynes team, he would have become President. Josh, with his typical bravado/arrogance, replied that he didn't think Hoynes would be President—he knew. Shortly after Josh joined the Bartlet campaign, he hired college dropout Donnatella Moss as his assistant despite her total lack of qualification. Donna has been Josh's assistant, close friend, and possible object of his affections ever since. On the night that Bartlet won the Illinois Primary, the key to winning the Democratic nomination, Josh's father died. Josh rushed to the airport to fly home as soon as possible, and in a touching scene, Bartlet delayed giving his victory speech in order to follow Josh to the airport and make sure he was okay. Josh was also seriously wounded in the finale of the first season by white supremacists trying to assassinate Charlie for his relationship with Zoey, the President's daughter. Josh spent a substantial amount of time in the hospital, and was later diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of the shooting. Currently, Josh has temporarily left his position at the White House to run the dark horse presidential campaign of outgoing Democratic Congressman, Matt Santos, of Texas. It should be noted that despite the seeming unlikelihood of a Santos nomination, Josiah Bartlet—then Governor Bartlet—was also considered a dark horse when he ran for president in 1998. Santos lost the Iowa caucus embarassingly but came in at 19% in the New Hampshire primary, and surprisingly went on to win the very important California primary. Santos then won the New Jersey primary by a slim margin, leaving neither Santos or Russell with the required delegates to win the nomination (the difference belonging to a combination of John Hoynes's delegates and the superdelegates). Josh is from Connecticut ("Whaler Pride!"), graduated from Harvard University, where he worked at the Harvard Crimson, and Yale Law School. Josh is a non-practicing Jew. His grandfather was held in the Nazi concentration camp, Birkenau, during World War II.

Josh Lyman

See also