Trying to Professionalize Expert Knowledge (Part I): The Short Life of the Municipal Administration Service, 1926-1933

One of the building blocks of the professionalization of American public administration was the recognition of the need for expert knowledge and the wide dissemination of that information to practitioners. Municipal civil servants could adopt and adapt these best practices in their localities. Such was the purpose of the Municipal Administration Service (1926-1933), initially founded by the National Municipal League and funded by the Rockefeller philanthropies. This article is an organizational history of the Service. It presents the life cycle of the agency, including its operations, funding, problems, and the behind-the-scenes public administration politics which led to its demise. In all, the Municipal Administration Service captures the early history of American public administration, its attempt to demonstrate that it was a full-fledged profession with recognized experts and managerial advice that ultimately proved unable to perpetuate itself.

Editorial Board & Masthead

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Table of Contents

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Character and Competence at the Top: Gerald Ford Becomes President and Pardons Richard Nixon

On August 9,1974, Gerald Ford took the oath as president when Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of Watergate. Ford's inaugural remarks and the actions that followed, aimed at restoring trust in government and gaining the legitimacy he needed to confront national problems, rested on both his character and his leadership talent. His public approval rating soared. Thirty-one days later, Ford spoke to the nation again, announcing his pardon of the disgraced former president. That speech and the actions connected to it also depended on Ford's character and leadership skills. Yet, his approval plummeted, dooming his prospects to win the 1976 election. This one-month period offers important lessons for public leaders who want to both be good and do good. Ford succeeded in the first speech and failed in the second. The ability to articulate a transcendent public purpose, persuade the public in a compelling way, and master the art of building political support proved decisive in both cases. Also decisive was his character and the way he sought to call forth the moral character of the nation.

Where’s Waldo: Revisiting the Administrative Novel

In 1968 Dwight Waldo published The Novelist on Organization and Administration: An Inquiry into the Relationships Between the Two Worlds. His very simple observation was that “one can learn much about administration from novels” (1968, 4). After thirty years, it may be a time to re-examine both the literary and academic side of Waldo’s novel approach. The article offers Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano and David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King, one classic and one contemporary work, as vehicles for revisiting Waldo’s pedagogy and reestablishing the linkage between administration and administrative novels.

Case Study #12: The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber

Have you ever told someone about something you had seen, but they wouldn’t believe you? That’s the situation in James Thurber’s “The Unicorn in the Garden.” The situation itself is domestic rather than organizational or administrative, but it provides a wonderful gateway into the world of the UNREAL ADMINISTRATOR: How would the police react if called in? What are the appropriate roles for social services agencies? For officials responsible for animal control? Or even for “neighborhood watch” organizations?

Case Study #11: Being There by Jerzy N. Kosinski

The case study focuses on characteristics of the leader. Following the main protagonist’s odyssey, you will consider what qualities we expect from our leaders, what responsibilities we place with our leaders in general and our public leaders in particular, and how leaders and followers relate.

Review of The Fed at 100 Museum of American Finance, New York, September 25, 2013–March 27, 201

Reviewed by Jonathan Woolley

In Defense of Bullshit: Administrative Utility of the Philosophically Ephemeral

The word bullshit often has a negative connotation – and for good reason. Bullshit often is worse than lying given the stories and calculations involved. What if bullshit could be useful for public administration? Using a revised interpretation of bullshit, this article argues that public administrators and citizens might find the exercise useful when it comes to achieving authentic participation. Here, I bring together the revised version with King et al.’s authentic citizen participation to illustrate the utility of bullshit when it comes to idealistic, creative thinking.

The Academic Zoo: Student Profiles, Class Design and Teaching Style

We call it a “zoo” when we see a gathering of disorderly, out-of-control people. Yet, any zookeeper will tell you their environments are calm and organized. Knowing the unique nature of their inhabitants and accommodating their species-specific needs makes for an educational environment for all. The Academic Zoo is no different. This paper introduces four profiles of the exotic creature, the freshman, and describes how they congregate in four types of First Year Seminars. The author proposes four teaching styles for these seminars, effective in attending to their distinct nature and keeping this zoo from becoming a circus.