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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."
Born in October at some point in the early-to-mid 1960s Josh is a native of Westport, Connecticut and 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. His father died the night of the Illinois primary and his mother splits her time between Westport, CT and West Palm Beach, FL, although she sells the CT house in the 3rd season.
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. Also, Hoynes tries to recruit Josh to run his campaign when he wants to get back into politics. 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 is seriously wounded by white supremacists trying to assassinate presidential aide Charlie Young, who is African-American and is then dating the President's daughter. Josh underwent fourteen hours of surgery and was subsequently put through intensive psychotherapy after displaying symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. 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 returned from isolation after the First Lady asked Bartlet "Where's Josh?" 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.
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: