Neutral and Responsive Competence

Abstract

Terry M. Moe argues that the interests of modern presidents lead them to eschew the “neutral competence” of professional staff agencies for the “responsive competence” more typical of presidential loyalists and the White House staff. This article examines the critical case of the Bureau of the Budget, 1939-1948, an agency that Moe claims faced a Faustian choice between sacrificing neutral competence or failing to respond to presidential needs. The scholarly and historical record indicates that, contrary to Moe’s claims, the agency maintained high levels of both neutral competence and responsiveness to Presidents Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman during this period. Moreover, the behavior of both the agency and its presidential clients was “rational” given the agency’s structure and mission and given presidential needs.