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A Tale of Two Bureaucrats

Joseph Nourse, Oliver Wolcott Jr., and the Forerunners of American Public Administration

Louisiana State University

An examination of the careers of two of George Washington's early bureaucrats— Joseph Nourse and Oliver Wolcott—deepens our understanding of the evolution of the American bureaucratic state and its mix of career employees and political appointees. In a career spanning 52 years, Nourse, the first register of the treasury, resembles the nonpartisan merit-based civil servant who spends an entire career in public service. Wolcott, the treasury's first auditor, resembles today's political appointee whose stay in government is temporary and who enters and leaves government according to the political winds. Nourse, Wolcott, and their colleagues proved to be efficient, honest, and set high standards for today's civil servants to emulate, although they stooped to the lower ethics of the time that allowed nepotism, spoilsmanship, and stock jobbery.

Key Words: bureaucracy • public administration • federalist • George Washington • Joseph Nourse • Oliver Wolcott • Alexander Hamilton

This version was published on July 1, 2008

Administration & Society, Vol. 40, No. 4, 384-402 (2008)
DOI: 10.1177/0095399708317168


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