552 Reviews

It is essential to read through the entire paper documentation to avoid complications. An addendum points out that striking the left or right arrow keys after receiving the “reference item could not be found” message will throw the user out of the system. One must use the up and down arrow first.

The Record on CD may be more easily and clearly used in the outline or browse mode. The outline is filled out, in layers, by using the insert key and the “expand all” function. A few other features deserve mention: the print and downloading functions work well, the “sticky notes,” which enable the user to add comments, are interesting and useful. The documentation is readable and well indexed.

The casual user will probably never effectively use the Record on CD. There is nothing very intuitive about this system. As with any electronic product, the more it is used the more logical it appears, but this one will require a great deal of practice time. The planning committee for the product evaluated several different software packages before choosing the Quantum Access (QA) product. The QA also serves as the basis for the CD-ROM products of the Congressional Information Service, among others. No software will perfectly fit any given set of data and, of course, the programmers had deadlines to meet. QA is powerful, and, with some additional programming, a smooth disc change operation could be worked out and a few amenities added. Given the user feedback and a little more time a good product could result.

Both the Joint Committee on Printing and the Government Printing Office emphasize that this issue of the Congressional Record on CD-ROM is a prototype. Both groups have said that they welcome com- ments and suggestions about the CDs on an ongoing basis. The GPO is waiting for the results of user surveys to decide how to include the tabular data. They are also working to remove the horizontal arrow movement bug, and they recognize that the largest user complaint may be the disc change operation.

Thus, the GPO has accomplished one major goal by placing a large full text database on CD-ROM. Now their goal should be to make the Record on CD easier and more logical to use

MELISSA LAMONT Government Documents

The University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 22903

USA

A Staff for the President: The Executive O&e, 192142. By Alfred Dick Sander. New York: Green- wood Press, 1989. 396 p. ISBN O-313-26526-7. $49.95

As a contribution to the presidential staffing literature, this is a curious book. On the one hand, it is a richly detailed historical and political account told by author Sander, whose professional experiences were, in part, shaped by the institutions on which he is writing. Conversely, there is little attempt to identify where other accounts of presidential staff fall short, lack the information contained in this book, or to integrate this work into the larger body of knowledge concerned with presidential staffing and the institu- tionalized presidency. Hence, the fust question every reader brings to a new book - “What will this specific volume add to my knowledge?” - is not entirely answered.

This point is raised because Sander argues that, “this book is a study of the institutions of the modem presidency. It focuses on the Truman Administration because by 1952 that process essentially was com- pleted” (p. 6). The evolution of the modem presidency, that is the growth of the staff designed to serve the President, is well studied in presidential, historical, and psychological literature. Many scholars have analyzed the functional, practical, political, and decisionmaking foci that developed as a result of presiden- tial staff development. In this volume, Sander proceeds along similar grounds. He identifies eight ques- tions that guide his study; these focus on the threat the presidential staff represents to cabinet government and to the executive branch bureaucracy, the growth of personal staff power that may ultimately threaten the very president it was designed to serve, the organization of staff, and the compatibility of the institu- tionalized presidency with the constitutional system of checks and balances. Yet, as Sander argues, the modem, institutionalized staff has also given the president “a corps of careerists who are immune to departmental parochialism and capable of developing a presidential perspective” (p. 8).

The book is arranged chronologically and institutionally. Sander initially traces the need for presidential staff. Beginning with Theodore Roosevelt, the expectations, responsibilities, and functions a president was expected to perform grew dramatically. Scholars focusing on administration began to apply their under- standing of business to government with the hope of developing efficient practices. Although presidents were limited to a handful of personal staff assistants, Congress passed the Budget and Accounting Act from which the Bureau of the Budget (BOB and later OMB) was developed. This office was conceived by Congress to lead and assist the President in developing a national budget. Once the BOB was in place,

Reviews 553

it forever changed the balance and understanding of presidential prerogative. According to Sander, “it is difficult to underestimate the significance of the Budget and Accounting Act in the growth of the presi- dent’s power to direct the work of the executive branch” (p. 12).

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, presidential staff was further expanded, and the Executive Of- fice of the President (EOP) created. Roosevelt directed a study to determine the scope and propriety of an expanded presidential staff; the Brownlow Committee report, named for its chair Louis Brownlow, made several recommendations upon which Congress could act. The committee focused on broad reorganization of the Executive branch and the introduction of professional staff for the President that would assist in the development and implementation of policy. Congress balked at widespread reorganization, but by 1938 was willing to give Roosevelt six administrative assistants, not subject to congressional confirmation, to comprise the EOP. Additionally, the new EOP incorporated under its jurisdiction &he Bureau of the Bud- get and National Resources Planning Board.

From here, Sander takes the reader on a well-documented and detailed history of the development of the EOP. From Roosevelt to Truman, Sander focuses on growth in the EOP in function, scope, and power. Under Truman, the National Security Council was born, the scope of economic advice expanded, and the ability of a President to rely on staff for policy development and implementation refined. Sander’s account of these developments constitute the core of this book; he has done an admirable job of supplying the context in which the EOP was developed. His is a richly d~umented study about the principal actors involved in the development of presidential staff.

A word should be added regarding methodology. Sander is successful in contextualizing the EOP’s development in large part because of the research he undertook at several archival depositories. Oral histo- ries, manuscripts, and correspondence were surveyed at the Hoover and Truman presidential libraries, OMB archives, National Archives, and from prominent government officials. Additionally, Sander corre- sponded with several actors involved in the development and early analysis of presidential staff. As re- searchers become more demanding of their data, it is work performed by those such as Sander that stands out. His reliance on primary source documentation lends credence to his unders~ding and inte~retation of presidential staff development. The leading guide to studying the presidency, from Edwards and Wayne [I], would most assuredly applaud the methodology and framework developed by Sander.

This book is a valuable contribution to the historical and political literature on presidential staffing. Those conducting research in political science, history, and public administration, will find this to be a valuable resource for background, events, actors, and the conditions under which the presidential staffing system was developed. In all, the book provides a wealth of info~ation and wonderful contextual under- standing of the politics and events that led to the formation of presidential staffs and the EOP. Sander’s first-rate research is apparent throughout the text.

However, it remains somewhat curious that Sander does not more fully incorporate the history of the EOP into an understanding of that institution today. Scholars have developed an entire subfield of political science focusing on the EOP and its organization, problems, and relationship to Congress and Executive branch departments. For example, the organizational framework into which each President casts the EOP has been a frequent subject of research. Likewise, the quality of advisers - regarding loyalty, power, and the ability to offer a President cogent, practical, and poiiticaliy const~ctive advice - is the frequent target of scholarly inquiry.

Given the extant literature, Sander’s work enriches rather than fills a void. Most assuredly Sander should be applauded for the quality of his research and the important primary source documentation employed in analyzing the birth and formative years of the President’s staff. However, it would have been equally interesting and important for Sander to cast his findings into the larger net of political science research. His findings certainly have a place in the literature; but the absence of his inco~oration of such a discus- sion detracts from an otherwise insightful, innovative. and admirable effort.

NOTES

I. George C. Edwards, III, and Stephen J. Wayne, eds. Studying rhe Presidency (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1983), 199-256. In this volume, scholars Martha Joint Kumar and Larry Berman each contribute a chapter on the analysis and use of archival material in presidential libraries.

SCOTT HILL Institute of Governmental Affairs

University of California Davis, CA 95616

USA