Statement by the President Upon Signing Order Providing for a Management Improvement Program in the Executive Branch.
SINCE the Reorganization Act of 1949 was passed, I have submitted to the Congress a number of plans to improve the organization and management of the executive branch. Other steps to further the recommendations of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch are under study. In cooperation with the Congress I intend to move ahead as rapidly as is consistent with well-considered action.
While improvements in the organization and administrative arrangements of the executive branch are essential to efficient conduct of Federal programs, they do not in themselves result in better operations. Responsible officials must follow through to see that potential improvements in Government operations are actually realized.
In an Executive order which I have just signed, I am taking steps to assure that there shall be a continuous and systematic effort throughout the executive branch to evaluate and improve the effectiveness and economy of Government operations.
Department and agency heads will continue to have primary responsibility for such action. It is my intention that the responsible executives shall schedule comprehensive reviews of activities under their jurisdiction in order to improve internal agency organization, identify and eliminate overlapping or unnecessary activities, simplify or modernize procedures, and assure that management shall be effective in its day-today direction and supervision of operations. In scheduling such appraisals it is my intention that priority shall be given to those areas of operation in which the greatest benefits in economy or improved service to the public are expected.
The Bureau of the Budget will review accomplishments and keep me informed of progress and matters requiring action by me.
The Advisory Committee on Management Improvement will assist me in planning an effective management improvement program on a government-wide basis and in reviewing progress and accomplishments under it.
Note: On July 29, the President issued Executive Order 10072, "To Provide for Continuing Action to Improve the Management of the Executive Branch of the Government" (3 CFR, 1949-1953 Comp., p. 277).
The order established an Advisory Committee on Management Improvement to which the President appointed the following: Chairman, Thomas Morgan of New York City, president, Sperry Corporation; Lawrence A. Appley of New York City, president, American Management Association; Vincent Burke, First Assistant Postmaster General; Oscar Chapman, Under Secretary of the Interior; Gordon Clapp, Chairman, Tennessee Valley Authority; Stephen T. Early, Under Secretary of Defense; Herbert Emmerich of Chicago, director, Public Administration Clearing House; Edward Mason of Cambridge, Mass., dean, Harvard Graduate School of Public Administration; Otto Nelson of Princeton, N.J., vice president, New York Life Insurance Company; James Palmer of Winnetka, Ill., executive vice president, Marshall-Field & Company; Marcellus C. Sheild, retired staff member of the House Committee on Appropriations; James E. Webb, Under Secretary of State. Frank Pace, Jr., Director of the Bureau of the Budget, was requested to meet with and advise the Committee.
The President held his first meeting with his Advisory Committee on Management Improvement on October 13, 1949. Following the meeting the White House issued a press release stating that the President had emphasized the importance of improving management in the executive branch in order to cut down costs, meet national security requirements, carry out an effective foreign policy, and insure continued growth and expansion of the economy.
He indicated his general agreement with the recommendations of the Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch, pointing out that he had recommended action to the congress on the most important of these recommendations and stating that he would propose further action at the next session of Congress.
He said that although he felt the organizational structure of the Government was receiving adequate attention, he was concerned with ways of getting systematic improvement of operating performance.
The President asked the Committee to begin its work by reviewing the programs of the three central agencies which are concerned with management throughout the Government--the Bureau of the Budget, the Civil Service Commission, and the General Services Administration. He pointed out that those three agencies have the principal roles in providing management guidance for the Government as a whole. He also asked the Committee to give special attention to a proposed program for continuous development of key personnel in the Government.
Harry S Truman, Statement by the President Upon Signing Order Providing for a Management Improvement Program in the Executive Branch. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/229793