TVA: Fifty Years of Grass-roots Bureaucracy

Politics & Social Sciences

Conkin, Paul K.

Hargrove, Erwin C.

Politics & Government

University of Illinois Press

This volume offers a comparative analysis of the challenges facing center-left parties in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, the European Union, Poland, and Russia. Among the questions addressed are:o If the traditional social bases of left parties are now too limited for winning in majoritarian politics, what kind of coalitions and ideas, which reach beyond those bases and yet retain them, may be effective?o If the answer to the first question is that such umbrella coalitions are too torn to be workable, what is the alternative? What is gained and lost in moves toward the center or further to the left?o Is coalition politics sufficient for governance in terms of both policy and the long-term political health of a party, or must there be a central, guiding set of ideas around which coalitions are formed?o What are the inherent weaknesses of market-oriented parties against which democratic center-left parties might appeal and win?o To what extent do national histories and political cultures both provide resources for, and set constraints and limits on, what parties may creatively do with political appeals and policies?The center of political gravity differs in these countries, with the United States and United Kingdom to the right and France and Germany to the left. Neither Poland nor Russia has been able to develop a party of this kind with any political strength. These essays explore how center-left parties, positioned as they are in the electoral spectrum, cope with the challenge of establishing an ideology to distinguish themselves from center-right parties and, while remaining both moderate and progressive, or even radical, try also to capture the center of politics.Contributors are David S. Bell, Alonzo L. Hamby, Uwe Jun, Robert Ladrech, Thomas F. Remington, Hubert Tworzecki, and Mark Wickham-Jones.

The Future of the Democratic Left in Industrial Democracies (Issues in Policy History)

History

Americas

Penn State University Press

Interviews with ten former chairmen of the Council of Economic Advisers--from the Truman to the Carter administrations--are gathered in this book to examine the relationship between economic advisers and the president and the institutional relationships among the CEA, executive departments, and federal financial agencies. The interviews also reconstruct major presidential decisions since the establishment of the CEA, such as the 1964 tax cut, the 1971 wage and price freeze, and presidential strategies for managing inflation and recession. In a preface to each interview, the editors analyze the conditions for CEA effectiveness, look at how well the advice of the Council has conformed to the presidential world view, and pinpoint the distribution of responsibility for policy analysis and advice within successive administrations.

The President And The Council Of Economic Advisors: Interviews With Cea Chairmen

Business & Money

Morley, Samuel A

Economics

Routledge

Presidents, Politics, and Policy

Nelson, Michael

Mcgraw-Hill College

Prisoners of Myth is the first comprehensive history of the Tennessee Valley Authority from its creation to the present day. It is also a telling case study of organizational evolution and decline. Building on Philip Selznick's classic work TVA and the Grass Roots (1949), a seminal text in the theoretical study of bureaucracy, Erwin Hargrove analyzes the organizational culture of the TVA by looking at the actions of its leaders over six decades--from the heroic years of the New Deal and World War II through the postwar period of consolidation and growth to the time of troubles from 1970 onward, when the TVA ran afoul of environmental legislation, built a massive nuclear power program that it could not control, and sought new missions for which there were no constituencies.
The founding myth of multipurpose regional development was inappropriately pursued in the 1970s and '80s by leaders who became "prisoners of myth" in their attempt to keep the TVA heroic. A decentralized organization, which had worked well at the grass roots, was difficult to redirect as the nuclear genii spun out of control. TVA autonomy from Washington, once a virtue, obscured political accountability. This study develops an important new theory about institutional performance in the face of historical change.

Prisoners of Myth: The Leadership of the Tennessee Valley Authority, 1933-1990

Princeton University Press

Few issues have clung to the presidency in recent years as tenaciously as that of moral leadership. This timely book, based on a lifetime of personal observation by an award-winning author, examines the politics of ideals to propose that, just as moral purpose without political craft is weak, political acumen without moral appeal is futile. Looking back to the timeless political theories of Aristotle and Machiavelli, Erwin C. Hargrove asks how presidents can most effectively combine political arts and skills with intellectual and moral leadership. He draws on his own scholarly research and synthesizes critical thinking about leadership—especially the point-counterpoint perspectives of Richard Neustadt and James MacGregor Burns. With insight and intelligence, he shows how effective leadership demands a judicious balance of commitment to the public good and an ability to discern the possibilities for political action at any moment. Hargrove argues that political leadership must contain a moral element if it is to be fully effective, and that a successful president must provide leadership in accord with the ideals embedded in American culture. To demonstrate this theory, he suggests a model with which to analyze, compare, and evaluate political leaders, and then assesses the presidencies of Franklin Roosevelt, Lyndon Johnson, and Ronald Reagan according to the model's normative implications. By examining the three presidents in terms of skill, character, cultural leadership, and other qualities, Hargrove extends his analysis beyond individual presidents to generate keen insights about presidential leadership in general. This thoughtful book clearly demonstrates that craft dissolves into cleverness without a clear sense of moral purpose, and that truth-telling, empowerment, and altruism in politics are not only desirable but achievable. The President as Leader is the capstone of a distinguished career, synthesizing years of observation and research about issues that occupy the thoughts of many Americans. In taking Lincoln's evocation of the better angels of our nature as a source of inspiration for his own reflections, Hargrove reminds us that we, as leaders, have the means before us to become better versions of ourselves.

The President as Leader: Appealing to the Better Angels of Our Nature (Policy)

University Press of Kansas

The President as Leader: Appealing to the Better Angels of Our Nature

Analyzes the accomplishments and failures of the Carter administration, and aruges that world events and the inability to form a political coalition hindered his chances for reelection

Jimmy Carter As President: Leadership and the Politics of the Public Good (Miller Center Series on the American Presidency)

Louisiana State Univ Pr

Jimmy Carter was, according to Erwin Hargrove, the first modern Democratic president to be substantially ahead of the party coalition. Concerned with issues of the future -- inflation, the need for tax reform, energy shortages -- Carter anticipated many questions that are only now being addressed, nearly a decade after his troubled tenure in office.The years 1976 to 1980 were difficult years for a Democrat to be president -- especially difficult for a southern moderate who viewed the world in Wilsonian terms and who was politically unaligned, essentially an outsider in his party and in Washington. But Carter's inability to read or manipulate the political scene was not the only problem to beleaguer his presidency. Events such as the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the capture of American hostages in Iran also worked against Carter, creating situations in which no amount of political acumen could have salvaged his presidency.Hargrove places Carter in historical perspective. Examining his frequently overlooked successes, as well as his failures, Hargrove analyzes both the content and the methods of Carter's policy leadership. His style of leadership is studied in the light of his beliefs and values, and of his problem-solving skills and experience.This profile draws heavily upon interviews with members of Carter's White House staff. In a consideration for Carter's domestic, economic, and foreign policies, Hargrove shows the congruence of purpose, politics, and process as a president shapes decision making. Because Carter was skilled at solving specific problems, he achieved notable successes -- the Panama Canal Treaty, the Camp David Accord, and the SALT II talks -- when he could keep matters in his own hands. Yet, despite such policy successes, his inability to build strong coalitions and delegate authority, exacerbated by uncontrollable world events, doomed Carter to political defeat.Throughout Jimmy Carter as President, Hargrove emphasizes that in our assessment of presidents, we should evaluate skill within the historical context and thereby better understanding the ingredients of presidential success. Hargrove's effective and extensive use of interviews proves the advantages of integrating oral history into scholarly research and writing.

Jimmy Carter as President: Leadership and the Politics of the Public Good (Miller Center Series on the American Presidency)

LSU Press

Book by Hargrove, Erwin C.;Morley, Samuel A.

Westview Press

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