President Roosevelt’s Administrative Assistants and Secretaries to the President earned $10,000 per year after the reorganization was effected. In 1948 the Truman Administrative Assistants and Secretaries to the President were still earning $10,000 although John R. Steelman, as The Assistant to-the President, had a salary of $15,000 and Clark M. Clifford, as Special Counsel to the President, had a salary of $12,500. Salaries creeped near the $20,000 mark under Eisenhower and the Kennedy staff men received $21,000. President Johnson’s top staff aides now receive $30,000 annually with the second line professional staff members
For most White House Office Professional staff members since 1939, appointment to the presidential staff has meant an increase in pay. Some, primarily the businessmen of the Eisenhower Administration, have taken salary cuts. However, it has not been customary for staff members to dispose of investments while in the White House and thus few of them suffered losses as a result of conflict of interest practices as cabinet appointees frequently do.
However, after leaving the White House most of the staff. members have taken positions which represent a substantial improvement on their White House salaries, several of them earning more than $100,000 annually.