White House Staff

Within These Walls goes beyond the study of presidential speeches and examines the organizational structure, systems of information flow, and communication styles in the administrations of Franklin Roosevelt through Ronald Reagan. Focusing specifically on the post-Watergate presidents, this book illustrates that a crucial dimension of presidential communication is not that which is spoken during public addresses but that which takes place between the chief executive and his senior staff. The author's research includes interviews with President Ford and several former senior aides in the Ford, Carter, and Reagan White Houses.

By exploring important issues that have received little attention before now, this edited collection breaks new ground in our understanding of America's highest office. The volume brings together established scholars and promising young researchers to open new questions about our most important political institution.

As the scope and size of the U.S. government has expanded, the importance of good management to the success of a presidency has also increased. Although good management cannot guarantee political or policy success, poor management can certainly undermine good policy and political efforts.

In this second edition of The Managerial Presidency James P. Pfiffner brings together both classic analyses and more recent treatments of managerial issues that affect the presidency. Some of the foremost presidency scholars have contributed to this volume, including Richard Neustadt, Charles O. Jones, Hugh Heclo, George Edwards, and Louis Fisher. This second edition includes more recent scholarship by Roger Porter, Steven Kelman, Peri Arnold, and Ronald Moe.

The focus of this collection is the extent to which presidents can exercise control over the executive branch bureaucracies and whether it is wise for them to exert that control. Part one deals with the question of how to organize the White House staff.If this organizational problem is not resolved, solving the broader problems of organization and policy will be that much more difficult. Part two addresses the question of how much control presidents should exert over the departments and agencies of the executive branch and how the White House staff and other political appointees relate to career civil servants. The final section examines presidential managerial reform efforts and the congressional role in managing the government.

Although the contributors to this collection do not all agree on how the presidency should be managed, there is surprising consensus on which questions ought to be asked. The analyses addressing those questionswill be of interest to students and scholars of the modern presidency as well as those interested in executive leadership and public administration.