Economic Advice to the President: From Eisenhower to Reagan
Economic advice to the president over the last thirty years has varied widely, reflecting the decision-making styles of the president and his leading administration officials. Any brief survey can, at best, only suggest broad characteristics and trends. A comprehensive study, rich in the details of economic policymaking over the past seven administrations, awaits presidential scholars and economic historians. A description and assessment of the substantive economic policy advice provided the president and its contribution to the decisions presidents ultimately have made are also beyond the scope of this article. The purpose of this article is two-fold: first, to review the development of three entities or types of institutional arrangements that have characterized economic policy advice to the president over the past thirty years; and second, to discuss three organizational issues concerning the president and economic policy decision-making. This article draws from scores of interviews conducted over the past four years with senior economic policy officials in the Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations and from research in the Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson presidential libraries.' Its focus is on structural arrangements for providing economic policy advice to the president. It necessarily includes only brief summaries of each administration.