James Q. Wilson Quotes
Sometimes the agency head is picked because he or she is thought to be an expert on the subject, but many times the President has no real idea of the content or policy implications of this expertise.
Unlike Wilson, there are many who believe that a President should not seek an appointee who necessarily agrees with him on most policy issues. Instead, the appointee should be an accomplished and recognized expert on the area he/she will manage. And this person will give the President the soundest advice which the President can then endorse and/or overrule. This takes an intellectually and politically confident President who will be challenged on many issues. Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt both appointed such people and even chose members of the opposition party for key positions. Obama and William Clinton were two more modern presidents who did some of this.
James Q. Wilson, 1931-2012, Political Scientist, Bureaucracy
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Nixon campaign manager and Attorney General-designate John As a result of this kind of experience with a transitioning President, a more formal procedure was developed.
Reacting to criticism that political appointees were being given civil service jobs toward the end of an administration:
President Andrew Johnson was one of the worst Presidents America has elected. He was a tailor and became governor of Tennessee before he ascended to the Presidency on the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
Most recent American Presidents have appointed their most senior officials who were of their own political party although FDR, Dwight Eisenhower and Barack Obama appointed members of the opposition party to several important posts. However, in the Soviet Union, the senior officials would appoint no one to even a minor post who they did not perceive was politically reliable—was a dedicated communist and supported the views and programs of the Russian Communist Party leadership. However, rarely in America has there been any criteria of political or ideological doctrine in the hiring of staff. The George W, Bush Administration was a dramatic exception. Being a loyal Republican was totally insufficient. New officials had to be politically and philosophically consonant with the very conservative wing of the Republican party. This was bad enough but by following the same approach as the Russians and other ideological countries, the Bush administration had many of the same problems. One dramatic one was the hiring of people with no professional experience or qualifications but were ideologically perfect and totally loyal. One very dramatic example was the man appointed to head the Federal Emergency Management Administration. His experience consisted of managing horse shows and he had never had anything to do with natural disasters or any other kinds of emergencies nor did he have any experience with first responders. Another is the man appointed to set up the Stock Exchange for Iraq after we occupied that country and were involved in nation building. The appointee’s only job experience had been as a White House intern and not only knew nothing about Stock Exchanges or Economics, but had no business experience as he never held any other job. There were many such examples. No other administration in modern times—Democratic or Republican—went to such lengths as the Soviets to maintain ideological purity.
The FDR administration was the first that allowed women to serve in executive and high level management positions of the government. Frances Perkins, the Secretary of Labor, was the first American female cabinet minister. Most people in America had not known that there were female executives in the government until Mrs. Roosevelt wrote this column. While the majority of Americans seemed to support this idea, there were religious and cultural conservatives who were much opposed, and pointed to this as another way in which the Roosevelts were “undermining the traditions of America.”
This was an indirect criticism of Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Advisor to George W, Bush for not taking a role that Mazarr and many others believe she should have. On the other hand, President Bush selected her precisely because she shared his values and instincts. Perhaps, Bush should have selected and advisor who held a DIFFERENT view and perspective from himself. This quotation reveals the classic dilemma of political appointments of key advisors and cabinet members. Bush and Ronald Reagan tended to select advisors who agreed with them in philosophy and politics. FDR and Obama, followed the Lincoln tradition and appointed many advisors who were not intellectual clones of their own views and values.
James Quinn Wilson was an American conservative academic, political scientist, and an authority on public administration. Most of his career was spent as a professor at UCLA and Harvard University. He was the chairman of the Council of Academic Advisors of the American Enterprise Institute, member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1985–1990), and the President's Council on Bioethics. He was Director of Joint Center for Urban Studies at Harvard-MIT.
