Politics and Bureaucracy in the Modern Presidency: Careerists and Appointees in the Reagan Administration

This is the first large-scale aggregate data study of career-noncareer relations in U.S. administrations. This research is put into the perspective of a succinct history of relations between careerists and political appointees. Interviews and comments from more than 50 surveys add further color and provide interesting impressions about relations during the Reagan administration. Findings lead to new, important conclusions and suggestions for reform. Political scientists, policymakers, public administrators, and historians will find this work valuable considering bureaucratic and political problems.

Using a data base including 118 political appointees and 513 high-level career bureaucrats from 15 federal organizations in the Reagan administration, Maranto tests numerous propositions from political science and public administration concerning career-noncareer relations in the U.S. executive branch of government. The study starts with a history of the civil service, describes career-noncareer relations in the modern presidency, and then examines the Reagan administration. Maranto's findings indicate that the Reagan administration used ideological criteria in personnel policy but on a more modest scale than many have believed. A number of reforms are proposed for improving executive relationships.