Bernard Thatch works as a White House staffer in the Visitors Office and later in the Gifts Unit. An older, British gentleman, Bernard has a supercilious disposition and is constantly critical of both the taste in art of the President, and of the fashion choices of the West Wing staffers.
Biography[]
In his capacity as a member of the Visitors Office, he reported to C.J. regarding an incident that occurred on a White House tour; a woman had become very distressed after seeing a painting that was hanging outside the Blue Room. With Bernard's help, C.J. was able to discover that the painting had belonged to her father, and that it was stolen from him by the Nazi occupying forces in France, later making its way to the White House by way of the Musée d'Orsay. Bernard offered to keep the painting on display, noting that its value would only increase the longer it was displayed, but Mrs. Haussmann politely declined his offer and chose to keep the painting herself.[1]
Several years later, Bernard had been transferred to the Gifts Unit, replacing Rose, who had been promoted. Charlie was forced to deal with him in order to retrieve a Taiwanese Independence flag that the President had unwittingly accepted from the Taiwanese delegation during the National Prayer Breakfast. The Chinese government threatened to derail planned trade talks if the President did not return the flag. At first, Bernard was uncooperative, citing U.S. Code regulations on the receipt and disposition of foreign gifts. However, Charlie persevered, and with the assistance of Richard Squire from the Counsel's Office, he convinced Bernard to hand over the flag.[2]