Government by Committee: White House Staff, The
In the long shadow of history, the White House staff is a relatively new aspect of the office. When George Washington wanted a letter written he summoned Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson to take dictation. With the expansion of U. S. government d...
Chaos of Experimentation, A: White House Staff, the Brain Trust
From his first days in office, President Roosevelt surrounds himself with a cadre of bright, capable assistants. The size of White House staff explodes from a handful to a hundred. His closest advisors, "the brain trust," are people who can think ou...
Staffing the Department of Labor
Former Secretary of Labor and university professor Robert Reich talks about the challenge of filling staff positions with political appointees in a Cabinet department. "You're talking about hundreds of people that have to be assembled fairly quickly...