Exact data is not available for dates of appointment and dates of departure for some members of the Roosevelt and Truman staffs. However, membership on both staffs was relatively stable. World War II necessitated some changes in the Roosevelt staff which involved short-term appointments. President Truman had some difficulty in getting the men he wanted in the White House for a few months; but, after 1947, his staff was remarkably stable.
It ts difficult to compare the Eisenhower staff to the others during this period on the question of turnover because of its unique organization involving various short-term, special assignment positions. The Eisenhower men stayed in office for an average of thirty-eight months with six of them remaining for the entire 96 months of his two terms in office There was no noticeable turnover problem in the Eisenhower administration.
The Kennedy staff had a remarkable turnover record. The only front-line Kennedy men to leave the White House before the assassination, Richard Goodwin, Walt W. Rostow, Frederick G. Dutton, and Harry L. Wofford, Jr., left to accept other positions in the State Department and the Peace Corps.
If comparable statistics could be obtained for each of the administrations under study, the highest turnover rate would probably be that for the Johnson staff. One of the major reasons for this, of course, involves the emergency conditions under which President Johnson took office. Several of the Kennedy staff members resigned within six months after the assassination. However, 'twelve of them stayed for more than a year. Only five Kennedy men (counting Rostow, who has returned from the Department of State) are still serving on the Johnson staff. However, the loss of the Kennedy staff members tells only part of the turnover story for the Johnson White House staff. Only three of President Johnson’s eleven early staff appointees in 1963 and 1964 are still on the staff. Moreover, the turnover on the Johnson staff has involved key men like Bill Moyers, Walter Jenkins, Jake Jacobsen, Jack Valenti, and Horace Busby.