William Hamilton McWhorter Jordan (/ˈdʒərdən/[1]) (September 21, 1944 – May 20, 2008)[2][3] was an American politician who served as Chief of Staff to President of the United States Jimmy Carter.

While serving as Governor Carter's executive assistant, Jordan wrote a lengthy memorandum detailing a strategy for winning the 1976 Democratic Primary.

[5] In 1976 Jordan's youth and casual style gave him a media reputation as a fun-loving, partying, unsophisticated "good ole boy."

The media repeated rumors of coarse and even criminal behavior by Jordan, including supposed cocaine usage and anonymous sex at the infamous Studio 54 disco in New York City.

[7] According to one often repeated story from this period, Jordan stared at the breasts of the Egyptian ambassador's wife at a Washington reception and remarked, "I have always wanted to see the pyramids".

[7] CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite later recalled that the network's coverage of the cocaine allegations against Jordan was the "worst story he had ever broadcast.

In later years he served both as a member of the founders council and as an important public advocate for Unity08, a political movement focused on reforming the American two party system.

[13] Jordan's original title for the memoir was Meet the Gottheimers, a reference to the fact that he had discovered, not until he was in college, that his maternal grandmother had been Jewish.