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Presidents, Responsiveness, and Competence: Revisiting the "Golden Age" at the Bureau of the Budget
Matthew J. Dickinson and Andrew Rudalevige analyze the tension between neutrality and responsiveness in presidential staff agencies, focusing on the Bureau of the Budget (BoB) under President Harry S. Truman. They find that the BoB was very responsive to Truman’s political needs-but that those needs were best served by a neutrally competent BoB exhibiting professionalism, careerism, and administrative competence.

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Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power, Douglas L. Kriner and Eric Schickler Reviewed by Andrew Rudalevige

Relic: How Our Constitution Undermines Effective Government—and Why We Need a More Powerful Presidency, William G. Howell and Terry M. Moe Reviewed by Matthew J. Dickinson

Presidents and the Dissolution of the Union: Leadership Style from Polk to Lincoln, Fred I. Greenstein Reviewed by Matthew J. Dickinson

Nixon’s Court: His Challenge to Judicial Liberalism and Its Political Consequences, Kevin J. McMahon Reviewed by Matthew J. Dickinson

Honest Broker? The National Security Advisor and Presidential Decision Making, John P. Burke Reviewed by Matthew J. Dickinson

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ROBERT Y. SHAPIRO

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With neither an ideological nor a partisan bias, PSQ looks at facts and analyzes data objectively to help readers understand what is really going on in national and world affairs.

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