The President's Call: Executive Leadership From FDR to George Bush Read Free Page A

executive branch? Further, how did PASs assess their own level of work-related stress?
Interbureaucratic Issues
A final question concerns the reputed insularity of these political policy actors. How did PASs' operate within the larger political context? Did federal statecraft in the Reagan-Bush era still constitute a government of strangers, each isolated in her or his own village/agency, as Heclo asserted? Or did the long Republican dominance of the executive branch lead instead to a government of colleagues with a shared sense of purpose? Did facing the Democratic-controlled Congress and negotiating the bureaucratic labyrinth that is Washington create solidarity among the PASs?
This book moves from the general to the specific to address these four issues. Chapter 2 establishes the overall political and bureaucratic context in which high-level federal political appointees work. It sets the stage for analysis of interbureaucratic issues by discussing the constitutional separation of powers, the politics/administration dichotomy, and the administrative state. The chapter then examines the development and use of the logical extension of the administrative state, the administrative

 

Page 8
presidency, as practiced by Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, its most dedicated practitioners.
Chapter 3 discusses the fruits of this style of presidential leadership, the centralized presidency and politicization of the bureaucracy. It uses as examples the politicization of the budget and personnel processes in the Office of Management and Budget and in the Office of Personnel Management.
Chapter 4 discusses the approach toward appointments used by presidents in the modern era, the growing number of political appointments, and the larger ramifications of this spoils system.
Chapter 5 discusses qualifications issues via the appointment and confirmation process. It analyzes the benefits and risks of this appointment, or short-termer, system, as well as issues of tenure, PASs' general qualifications, and the costs and benefits of PAS success.
Chapter 6 examines intrabureaucratic issues primarily from the PAS perspective, with particular focus on political-career relations. It looks at the different roles assigned each group and how the inevitable conflict between them is played out, as well as ways in which the politicization of the personnel process affects their relationships. It then surveys various models of political-career relations, from the metaphors of war to the metaphors of appeasement, and concludes with the importance of realistic, pragmatic association between the two camps of federal executives.
Chapter 7 discusses the results of the Bush PAS Survey in terms of identity and qualifications. It presents the composite personal and demographic picture of the PASs with data about their age, gender, race, educational background, executive level, salary, and political party affiliation. It also provides the composite professional picture of those in the Bush PAS workforce, examining their background and qualifications and the sectors in which they have worked (public, private, or nonprofit), their previous level of responsibility for personnel and budget, and their commitment to government service.
Additionally, Chapter 7 compares the Bush and Reagan PASs and revisits the conventional wisdom about political appointees and the extent to which George Bush was successful in upgrading the public image of presidential appointees.
Chapter 8 addresses the intrabureaucratic issues. It analyzes the Bush PASs' relations with their political colleagues and career subordinates within their own agency, examining in particular issues of job satisfaction and stress (both agency and personal). It also defines George Bush's model of political-career relations as a public service model grounded in competent comity.

 

Page 9
Chapter 9 examines the larger context of interbureaucratic relations, beginning with PASs' relations with the White House and