Professional Backgound
- Josh is a Fulbright Scholar [1.1], a graduate of Harvard (cum laude [5.2]) and Yale [1.15], and scored a 760 on the verbal portion of his SAT [1.21], though he claims that his IQ doesn't break the bank [3.10]. Danny claims that when Josh received his Fulbright letter, he taped it to his forehead [4.15].
- In college, Josh was a Crimson guy, but he claims he had girlfriends, despite being harassed by drunken fratboy types on Friday nights when Josh was on his way to the library [5.2].
- Although Josh earned his Juris Doctorate, Sam considers him to be not a "real lawyer" [1.11], and Donna says of his being a lawyer, "Well, yeah, I mean, he went to law school, but..." to which Josh replied that he writes the law, he makes the law, he is the law [4.21].
- Josh's road to the White House:
- He worked as floor manager to the House minority whip, Chief of Staff for Congressman Earl Brennan [1.15], worked three years in the Senate (without ever being invited into the Republicans' cloakroom) [4.12], and advised Senator John Hoynes (D-TX) during his bid for the Democratic nomination [1.22]. Josh was working for Hoynes when he created the internet education bill [3.17]. After Hoynes' resignation as VP, Josh claims he didn't have any idea about Hoynes reputation as a womanizer [5.15].
- Josh has two years as legislative director in the house, and two years as floor director in the senate [3.2].
- Thirteen weeks before the New Hampshire primary, Leo McGarry -- an old friend of Josh's father, Noah -- appeared in Josh's office and asked him to come hear Jed Bartlet speak in Nashua, New Hampshire [2.1].
- Impressed by Bartlet's candor, Josh quit Hoynes' staff and joined the Bartlet for America campaign as the Senior Political Director [1.15].
- On his way back from Nashua, Josh stopped by to see his old friend, Sam Seaborn, who'd refused to join Hoynes' presidential campaign because he wasn't "the real thing." Josh's horrible poker face convinced Sam to quit his job and go with Josh to New Hampshire to work for Jed Bartlet [2.1]. Incidentally, Jed Bartlet can tell that something's wrong if Josh is "doing the face" [4.4].
- Despite initial friction with Jed Bartlet, Josh, Toby, Sam, CJ, and Leo successfully crafted a campaign that won Bartlet not only the Democratic nomination, but the Presidency. According to Donna, Josh's work on the campaign got the President elected [1.1].
- In the White House:
- As Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh has twice-weekly meetings with his assistant deputies where he basically staffs out in-box material for the next few days [2.17]. He also "staffs" the President regularly, which means that he sits in on Oval Office meetings to serve as Bartlet's "wide-angle lens" on the various issues discussed [4.1].
- Donna Moss became Josh's assistant during the Bartlet for America campaign [2.2] and is his senior assistant in the White House [3.13]. During their first months, she called him "Bambi-ass" [4.5]. He can feel her lurking when she's in the bullpen [4.8].
- Josh believes in efficiency, professionalism, and "the well-placed, well-worded memo" [2.15]; when new employees want to speak to Leo, Josh prefers them to hit him first until they learn to keep the silly stuff off of Leo's desk [4.21].
- During his first year as Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh nearly lost his job after a flip comment on Capital Beat [1.1].
- In addition to his regular duties at the White House, Josh does some extracurricular things, like participate in the Marjorie Du Pont Lecture Series [1.15] and meet somewhat reluctantly with the high school kids from Presidential Classroom [3.0].
- Because of his extensive knowledge of the legislature, Toby includes Josh in speechwriting decisions that involve Congress or talking about Congress [4.12].
- Because he couldn't fix the chaos following Bartlet's disclosure of his illness, Josh grew somewhat obsessed with the Justice Department's suit against Big Tobacco. As Bruno pointed out, they could have used nicotine against their Republican challenger -- Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio are three swing states that could have jumped to Democrats, and Josh knows it will be a close election [3.2].
- According to Sam, Josh has a "world-class political mind" [4.2]. Yet he was still stuck being the ten-word-answer guy before the 2002 presidential debate [4.6].
- On his nights off, Josh comes into the office anyway for the occasional Friday night poker game with the President, Toby, CJ, Ed, Larry, and Will [4.21].
- When the President decided to invoke the 25th Amendment after Zoey's abduction, Josh was sidetracked by the political reality of handing power to their political enemies, which would seem -- to Josh, anyway -- that the President can't handle it, and would also hand the next election to the Republicans [4.23].
- The Washington Post ran a puff piece on Josh calling him the 101st Senator, a one-man majority, and a legislative juggernaut; not long after, Josh's tactics backfired and a disgruntled conservative Senator switched parties, landing Josh in a world of hurt [5.5]
- Josh was in the doghouse for a while, concentrating on Donna's What-a-Shame Folder, until the President brought Josh back on the inside during the government shutdown [5.8].
- Albie Duncan refers to Josh as "McGarry's boy" [4.6] and Bartlet thinks that Josh would throw out the baby, the bathwater, and the bubbles to avoid disappointing Leo [4.12].
- Josh got under Sam's campaign manager's skin because he was convinced Scott Holcomb was making mistakes. Although he'd asked repeatedly to be allowed to take a leave and go manage Sam's Congressional bid himself, Josh had too much work with the roll-out of the Democratic economic plan and had to allow Toby to do it himself [4.16].
