Hoover Commission
Encyclopedia
The Hoover Commission, officially named the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government, was a body appointed by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...

 in 1947 to recommend administrative changes in the Federal Government of the United States
Federal government of the United States
The federal government of the United States is the national government of the constitutional republic of fifty states that is the United States of America. The federal government comprises three distinct branches of government: a legislative, an executive and a judiciary. These branches and...

. It took its nickname from former President Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...

, who was appointed by Truman to chair it.

History, membership and results

Authorized by Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

 in the Lodge-Brown Act of 1947 (named for Representative Clarence J. Brown, Sr.
Clarence J. Brown
Clarence J. Brown, Sr. was an American newspaper publisher who represented Ohio as a Republican in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 to 1965.-Life and career:...

 of Ohio and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Holy See . He was the Republican nominee for Vice President in the 1960 Presidential election.-Early life:Lodge was born in Nahant,...

 of Massachusetts), the commission first met September 29, 1947. Besides Hoover, its members were former Postmaster General
United States Postmaster General
The United States Postmaster General is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...

 and F.D.R.'s campaign manager James Farley
James Farley
James Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two...

, Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

 Dean Acheson
Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War...

, Senator George Aiken
George Aiken
George David Aiken was an American politician from Vermont. A Republican, he served as the 64th Governor of Vermont from 1937 to 1941 and as a U.S. Senator from 1941 to 1975...

 of Vermont, Representative Brown, Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...

 James V. Forrestal, Civil Service Commissioner
United States Civil Service Commission
The United States Civil Service Commission a three man commission was created by the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which was passed into law on January 16, 1883...

 Arthur S. Flemming, former Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy, political scientist
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 James Kerr Pollock, attorney James H. Rowe, Representative Carter Manasco
Carter Manasco
Carter Manasco was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.Born in Townley, Alabama, Manasco attended the public schools and Howard College, Birmingham, Alabama. He graduated from the University of Alabama School of Law, LL.B., 1927 and J.D. 1929. He was admitted to the bar the same year and began...

 of Alabama, industrialist George Mead and Senator John L. McClellan of Arkansas. Aiken, Brown, Flemming, Hoover, Mead and Pollock were Republicans
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

. Acheson, Forrestal, Kennedy, Manasco, McClellan and Rowe were Democrats
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

. The commission was supported by a large staff and numerous expert task force
Task force
A task force is a unit or formation established to work on a single defined task or activity. Originally introduced by the United States Navy, the term has now caught on for general usage and is a standard part of NATO terminology...

s.

In early 1949, the Commission forwarded its findings and a total of 273 recommendations to Congress in a series of nineteen separate reports. The commission was officially terminated on June 12, 1949. With the impetus of the Hoover Commission, the Reorganization Act of 1949, (Public Law 109, 81st Cong., 1st sess.) was approved by Congress on June 20, 1949. President Truman made a special message to Congress upon signing the act, with eight reorganization plans submitted in 1949, 27 in 1950, and one each in 1951 and 1952. Much implementation continued into the Eisenhower Administration, with ten reorganization plans in 1953, two in 1954, and one each in 1957 and 1958, although not all were related to the 1949 Act.

A later study in 1955 concluded that 116 of the recommendations were fully implemented and that another 80 were mostly or partly implemented.

Second Hoover Commission

Also, a Second Hoover Commission was created by Congress in 1953 during the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

. Also headed by Hoover (who was then almost 80 years old), the second commission sent its final report to Congress in June 1955.

See also

  • Public administration
    Public administration
    Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....

  • 22nd Amendment
  • James Farley
    James Farley
    James Aloysius Farley was the first Irish Catholic politician in American history to achieve success on a national level, serving as Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General simultaneously under the first two...

  • Brownlow Committee
    Brownlow Committee
    The President's Committee on Administrative Management, commonly known as the Brownlow Committee or Brownlow Commission, was a committee that in 1937 recommended sweeping changes to the executive branch of the United States government. The recommendations made by the committee resulted in the...

     1937
  • The Grace Commission
    The Grace Commission
    The Private Sector Survey on Cost Control , commonly referred to as The Grace Commission, was an investigation requested by United States President Ronald Reagan, in 1982. The focus of it was waste and inefficiency in the US Federal government. Its head, businessman J. Peter Grace, asked the...

     1982-1984
  • National Partnership for Reinventing Government
    National Partnership for Reinventing Government
    National Partnership for Reinventing Government , originally the National Performance Review, was an interagency task force to reform the way the U.S. federal government works in the Clinton Administration.The NPR was created on March 3, 1993...

     1993-1998
  • Project on National Security Reform
    Project on National Security Reform
    The Project on National Security Reform is a nonpartisan non-profit organization mandated by the United States Congress to recommend improvements to the U.S. national security system. Advocates of reform of the U.S...

    2006-present

External links

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