also speaks fluent Spanish. McGarry amassed significant wealth during his time in the private sector as a member of the board of directors of a defense contractor, Mueller-Wright Aeronautics, with his friend Ken O'Neill, for ten or twelve years. He also worked for Cultico, a chemical-agribusiness firm that was blamed for a disaster in Haryana, India, in the 1980s. On more than one occasion, it is made known that he is the wealthiest member of the staff - worth even more than the President himself. It is implied in the episode "And It's Surely to Their Credit" that McGarry is an attorney. He went to the University of Michigan. White House Chief of Staff In 1997, Leo travels to New Hampshire in an attempt to persuade his old friend Governor Josiah Bartlet to run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Having persuaded Bartlet, McGarry becomes his campaign manager and general chairman of the "Bartlet For America" campaign, hiring Josh Lyman, Toby Ziegler, C.J. Cregg, and Sam Seaborn as advisors. Eventually, Governor Bartlet, who was considered to be an insurgent candidate by the media, defeats Senator John Hoynes of Texas for the nomination, and goes on to win the presidency, appointing McGarry as his Chief of Staff. As President Bartlet's top advisor, McGarry has an office adjacent to the Oval Office and sits in with the President in the Situation Room. McGarry is very involved in the formation of policy and the day-to-day operations of the White House and its staff. Some of his inspirations include "Big Block of Cheese Day," where groups that would normally not be considered for White House attention get to have meetings with senior staffers, and a plan to make the staffers submit two-page reports on policy issues or get ignored. On more than one occasion, McGarry is said to be the man who "runs the country" and is treated with great respect by people on both sides of the aisle. When President Bartlet is giving instructions to the Cabinet member who is appointed the designated survivor during the State of the Union address, he asks the man if he has a best friend, if that friend is smarter than he is, and if he could trust that friend with his life. The Cabinet member says yes on all counts. Bartlet then says, "That's your Chief of Staff," not aware McGarry has heard him in the next