Do Presidents Control Bureaucracy? The Federal Housing Administration During the Truman-Eisenhower Era

Abstract

Charles M. Lamb and Adam W. Nye show how the Federal Housing Administration continued to permit racial segregation in its mortgage insurance program for years after the Truman administration indicated that it must alter that policy. They argue that this case study once again illustrates that presidential control has its limits as bureaucracy successfully defied presidential preferences and continued on a policy trajectory opposed by the president.