The first presidential communications agency : FDR's Office of Government Reports / Mordecai Lee.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lee, Mordecai, 1948- author.

Series:

SUNY series on the Presidency: Contemporary Issues

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.

Roosevelt, Franklin D.

United States. Office of Government Reports--History.

United States.

Administrative agencies--United States--History.

Administrative agencies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvii, 278 pages)

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, [2005]

Summary:

This book explores a forgotten chapter in modern U.S. history: the false dawn of the communications age in American politics. The Office of Government Reports (OGR) was created in 1939 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, but after World War II Congress refused President Truman's request to continue funding it. OGR proved to be ahead of its time, a predecessor to the now-permanent White House Office of Communications. Mordecai Lee shows how OGR was only one round in the long battle between the executive and legislative branches to be the alpha branch of government. He illustrates how OGR was in the most important sense an effort to institutionalize public reporting. Given the diminished trust in government in the twenty-first century, the study of OGR could act as a model for reviving public reporting as one way to reinvigorate democracy.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Illustrations

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction and Overview

Origins

Planning a Presidential Communications Agency, 1936–39

A Better Idea from the Military?

Congress Authorizes a Presidential Communications Agency, 1939–41

In Operation, 1939–41

High Water Mark, Winter–Spring 1941–42

Roosevelt Fights to Create the US Information Center, Spring 1942

Roosevelt Reluctantly Surrenders, May–June 1942

Truman’s Office of Government Reports, 1946–48

Since Then, Till Now

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780791483756

0791483754