C. J. Cregg - Character Biography

Character Biography

C.J., a Catholic, is originally from Dayton, Ohio (like Janney in real life, as well as fellow cast member Martin Sheen). Her father, Talmidge Cregg, was a math teacher at a local high school and begins suffering from Alzheimer's during Bartlet's first term in office (first mentioned in the season 3 episode "The Two Bartlets," with a more in-depth storyline in the season 4 episode "The Long Goodbye"). Her mother had died some time ago and Talmidge subsequently remarried twice, most recently a fellow teacher named Molly Lapham. C.J. also has at least two older brothers, one of whom has a teenage daughter named Hogan (whose name is the result of the brothers being "golf-crazies"). Several jokes are made about C.J.'s height, particularly in an episode in which Big Bird visits the White House. She graduated from the fictional West Dayton High School, and in the season 4 episode "The Long Goodbye" (set in late 2002 or early 2003, between the Christmas and Inauguration episodes) she attends what is presumably her 20th high school reunion, making her approximately 38 years old in 2002 (34 when she joined the Bartlet campaign).

A National Merit Scholar, C.J. attended, and later earned a master's degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley; her undergraduate major has never been disclosed. She was making $550,000 a year for her work at Triton Day, a prominent California public relations firm, before coming to work for Bartlet's 1998 presidential campaign for $600 a week ($31,200 a year). Coincidentally, she is fired from that job on the same day that Toby Ziegler comes to California to ask her to join the Bartlet campaign; He tells her Josiah Bartlet was impressed by the work C.J. had done at EMILY's List, then admits Bartlet has never heard of her: she is his and Leo McGarry's choice. As White House Press Secretary, C.J. is sharp, well-spoken and witty. She is less than pleased to discover that her Secret Service codename is "Flamingo", a bird which C.J. describes as being "ridiculous-looking". On festive occasions, C.J. can be persuaded to perform her dead-on lip synch of "The Jackal" by Ronny Jordan; this was originally Allison Janney's party piece, which was written into the series by Aaron Sorkin. Janney's actual performance of "The Jackal" was deemed too "good" by Sorkin during initial production, and she was advised to make it more "awkward" to fit the character for the final screen version.

During the third season, C.J. receives a series of death threats, which leads to her being placed under the protection of Secret Service agent Simon Donovan (played by Mark Harmon), with whom she becomes romantically involved. Shortly after going off-duty, Donovan is shot and killed after becoming caught up in the armed robbery of a New York City grocery store in the episode "Posse Comitatus". C.J. has also had a long on-again, off-again relationship with The Washington Post's White House correspondent Danny Concannon, although C.J. feels that they could not date because it would be a conflict of interest. In the 7th season (when C.J. has become Chief of Staff and no longer deals with the press on a daily basis) many references are made to their dating.

In the fifth season, it is revealed that C.J. had a one-night stand with Vice President John Hoynes, who was married at the time, approximately four years before the Bartlet Administration entered the White House. She tells Toby that she considers that night to be one of the greatest mistakes of her life. This history is foreshadowed a few times in the series, years before the revelation. Also, during the fifth season episode "Access", a documentary episode that was scripted to have aired after the Bartlet administration left office, it was revealed that C.J. Cregg remains the only woman to have served two terms as press secretary.

C.J. succeeds Leo McGarry as White House Chief of Staff in the sixth season (halfway through Bartlet's second term) after McGarry suffers a heart attack at Camp David. She is recommended by Leo himself, giving the President a list of "just one name". There has never been a female White House Chief of Staff in the real U.S. Government—it is unknown if the same is true in The West Wing fictional universe. It would also be the first time any press secretary was elevated to the position. C.J. is at first criticized on her appointment to the position of Chief of Staff because of her relative lack of foreign policy experience. While her subsequent performance as the Chief of Staff appears at first to be procedural in nature and lacking the independent advice which McGarry brought to the position, C.J. grows into the position. The episode The Wake Up Call marks a significant turning point in C.J.'s relationship with both the President and her new role, when she tells Bartlet he needs to trust her to do her job after an international crisis involving Iran. By the seventh season, C.J. is as confident with her new role as she was with her old, and has learned to gauge the President's mood and when he will be most receptive of her ideas. She successfully navigates the murky waters of UN politics, setting up a UN Security Council resolution to end the (real-life) humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan.

After the election of Matt Santos as President of the United States, C.J. is offered any position she wants in the incoming Santos Administration by Chief of Staff-designate Josh Lyman and is later offered by President-elect Santos a job as Special Counselor to the President. This is only one of many job offers she receives, having already been offered several positions in the private sector, notably an offer by Frank Hollis (a Bill Gates/Ted Turner-like character) to manage a new $10 billion charitable organization. Her response to Hollis on how best to spend his money is to start by building proper roads in Africa in order to make it easier to get food and services to people in need and if there is money left over to start on the plumbing. Matt Santos asks her to join him as a Special Counselor to the President so as to help him with the situation in Kazhakstan. She feels obligated to take the position in the Santos Administration, but is convinced by Danny Concannon to do what she wants, which is to take the Hollis job.

In the opening episode of the final season a flash-forward to the time of the dedication of the Bartlet presidential library, three years after the end of his presidency, it is revealed that C.J. lives in Santa Monica, California with husband Danny Concannon and their child.