Sander chronicles changes in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) paralleling change and expansion in the federal government, the executive branch, and the office of the president, from its inception to the end of the Truman administration... In his intriguing analysis of the historical dialectic surrounding theoretical questions about EOP Sander shines, showing the multi-colored underwear of a gray-flannel organization. The EOP becomes the playing field of a dynamic contest amoung differing constitutional and theoretical views. Sander has written a book about what could be a dull and lifeless topic, and made it enjoyable. Choice
Beginnings Roosevelt's Executive Office Truman the Administrator The Critical Year of 1946 The Budget Bureau and the Economic Council Truman's Budget Bureau Economic Advice The National Security Act The National Security Council, 1947-1950 NSRB: An Agency in Search of a Mission The National Security Council, 1950-1952 The Mobilization Muddle Bibliography Index
ALFRED DICK SANDER is Professor of History at Purdue University Calumet. A former analyst at the National Security Agency, he has served as department head, dean and chief academic officer at Purdue. He was awarded an individual grant by the Ford Foundation to support much of the research for this book.
?Sander chronicles changes in the Executive Office of the President
(EOP) paralleling change and expansion in the federal government,
the executive branch, and the office of the president, from its
inception to the end of the Truman administration. It is not a
critical analysis of the contemporary EOP, but rather an effort to
understand the foundations upon which the current edifice is
constructed. This is a tale similar to that of other bureaucratic
entities: at its inception EOP was based upon the fundamental axiom
of the field--the need for increasing centralization in
bureaucracy--and charged with aiding the president, as
manager-in-chief, in performing Luther Gulick's famous POSDCORB
tasks (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordination,
Reporting, Budgeting). These tasks define the primary purpose of
the EOP to this day, with most change and expansion since 1952
occurring primarily to accommodate special interests. Yet the
theoretical demand for centralized management has its critics, and
its implementation has problematic side-effect. In his intriguing
analysis of the historical dialectic surrounding theoretical
questions about EOP Sander shines, showing the multi-colored
underwear of a gray-flannel organization. The EOP becomes the
playing field of a dynamic contest amoung differing constitutional
and theoretical views. Sander has written a book about what could
be a dull and lifeless topic, and made it enjoyable. Upper-level
students.?-Choice
"Sander chronicles changes in the Executive Office of the President
(EOP) paralleling change and expansion in the federal government,
the executive branch, and the office of the president, from its
inception to the end of the Truman administration. It is not a
critical analysis of the contemporary EOP, but rather an effort to
understand the foundations upon which the current edifice is
constructed. This is a tale similar to that of other bureaucratic
entities: at its inception EOP was based upon the fundamental axiom
of the field--the need for increasing centralization in
bureaucracy--and charged with aiding the president, as
manager-in-chief, in performing Luther Gulick's famous POSDCORB
tasks (Planning, Organizing, Staffing, Directing, Coordination,
Reporting, Budgeting). These tasks define the primary purpose of
the EOP to this day, with most change and expansion since 1952
occurring primarily to accommodate special interests. Yet the
theoretical demand for centralized management has its critics, and
its implementation has problematic side-effect. In his intriguing
analysis of the historical dialectic surrounding theoretical
questions about EOP Sander shines, showing the multi-colored
underwear of a gray-flannel organization. The EOP becomes the
playing field of a dynamic contest amoung differing constitutional
and theoretical views. Sander has written a book about what could
be a dull and lifeless topic, and made it enjoyable. Upper-level
students."-Choice
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