Description
"When Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated in March 1933, the White House staff numbered fewer than fifty people. In the ensuing years, as the United States became a world power and both the foreign and domestic duties of the president grew more complex, the White House staff has increased twentyfold. This books asks how best to manage a presidency that itself has become a bureaucracy. In the third edition of Organizing the Presidency, Stephen Hess, with the assistance of James P. Pfiffner, surveys presidential organizations from Roosevelt¡¯s to George W. Bush¡¯s, examining the changing responsibilities of the executive branch jobs and their relationships with one another, Capitol Hill, and the permanent government. He also describes the kinds of people who have filled these positions and the intentions of the presidents who appointed them. "
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Concentrating on the issue of where political influence lies in the American presidency, Hess (governance studies, The Brookings Institution) describes how presidents from Franklin Roosevelt to George W. Bush have picked White House staffers and assigned them duties. He argues that the story shows the growing power and influence of the White House staff over both departmental operations and the presidential ear. He argues that the growth of an "overblown" White House staff has led to a situation in which the creation of policy and the implementation of government operations are doomed to failure. He recommends that we change our view of the President as chief manager of government to a more modest one in which he seen as chief political officer and the department heads are seen as gaining their authority over programs from Congress. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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