Karen M Hult
Biographic Data
| ID | 1047257 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Karen M Hult |
| GIVEN NAMES | Karen M |
| FAMILY NAME | Hult |
| SIGNATURE | HULT K M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Virginia Tech |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-2990-7461 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 83 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1987 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Brutal Campaign
Lost in a Gallup
With the winner still in doubt, the day after the 2020 presidential election, David A. Graham called the “clear loser ...: polling” (“The Polling Crisis Is a Catastrophe for American Democracy,” Atlantic, Nov. 4, 2020). Such a statement would scarcely surprise W. Joseph Campbell. His latest book, Lost in a Gallup, traces several polling “fiascoes” in U.S. presidential elections, from the infamous 1936 Literary Digest and 1948 miscalls to the fail…
Assessing the Trump White House
This essay examines and assesses the dynamics of the White House and broader executive branch under President Donald J. Trump. It probes the performance of key institutional responsibilities, focusing on selected areas of policy and of administration. Evaluated on the effectiveness of achieving the administration's goals and on implications for governance, the Trump presidency receives at best a mixed review. Its accomplishments included boosting…
Enabling Potus
Through the lens of past scholarship on White House structuring and staffing, we analyze the performance of Mark Meadows, President Donald Trump's final chief of staff. We examine the major roles performed by chiefs of staff and their offices, exploring their participation in management and in policy processes. Probing the roles, activities, and performance of Meadows and his Trump administration predecessors underscores the variation among chief…
Contemporary Presidency The Office of the Chief of Staff in the Trump White House, 2017–2019
Focusing on White House chiefs of staff and the Office of the Chief of Staff during the first three years of the Donald Trump administration, we examine the office and its occupants in the context of past scholarship on White House structuring and staffing. We discuss four major roles performed by chiefs of staff and their deputies (administrator, advisor, guardian, proxy), exploring their participation in management and in policy processes. We a…
Reflections on Edwards
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White House Evolution and Institutionalization
In exploring the evolution and institutionalization of the White House chief of staff and the office that chiefs oversee, we focus on presidencies from Reagan through Obama. We pay particular attention to the evolution of several major roles that chiefs of staff perform, to the dynamics in the chief of staff's office, and to the emergence of multiple deputy chiefs of staff. Despite variation in the activities and emphases of chiefs of staff and t…
The C hicago Clan
Objectives This article examines the roles, responsibilities, and performance of the first two W hite H ouse chiefs of staff during the O bama administration: R ahm E manuel and W illiam D aley. Methods Data are drawn and analyzed from academic and media resources, original interviews conducted by the authors with former staff in the O bama W hite H ouse, and public documents. Results Perhaps the most high‐profile chief of staff in history, R ahm…
Civic Engagement and Internet Use in Local Governance
Civically and politically interested individuals often use the Internet to facilitate and augment their civic and political participation. At the local level, such people also use the Internet to communicate and share information with fellow members of the local community groups to which they belong. In doing so, local groups help to create awareness and draw citizens into public deliberation about local issues and concerns, not only offline (a r…
George Akerson's Legacy
The growth and structural evolution of the White House press office have been primarily responses to the burgeoning and diversification of the mass communications media. As the White House press corps has grown, the press office adapted through expansion and structural elaboration. At the same time, the emergence of an increasingly complex media culture, partly a result of technological changes, called into question the role of traditional press …
White House Structure and Decision Making
A consensus has emerged about how White House staffs should be organized, which we refer to as the “standard model.” Yet recent presidencies have produced various kinds of dissatisfaction with the performance of the White House staff. Here, we explore whether the new normative understanding of White House structuring for decision making offers prescriptions that are as “good” as they might be. Focusing on the limitations of hierarchical structuri…
Right Turn
Principal-agent models can justify political management of career officials, while at the same time predicting challenges to it, in part reflecting the different ideological goals of careerists and political appointees. Indeed, the “administrative presidency” strategies Ronald Reagan pursued anticipated and heightened such conflict through attempts to “politicize” the federal executive. Such strategies may help account for the findings of Aberbac…
The Bush Staff and Cabinet System
Additional informationNotes on contributorsKaren M. HultCharles E. Walcott and Karen M. Hult are both professors of political science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Among other publications, they have coauthored three books: Governing the White House: From Hoover through LBJ, Governing Public Organizations, and the forthcoming Empowering the White House: Governance under Nixon, Ford, and Carter
With the Stroke of a Pen
The White House Counsel's Office
The Office of White House Counsel sits at the intersection of law, politics, and policy. Its distinctive challenge is to advise the president to take actions that are both legally sound and politically astute. Often called “the president's lawyer,” the counsel's office serves, more accurately, as the “presidency's lawyer,” with tasks that extend well beyond the exclusively legal. Drawing on interviews with previous occupants of the office, the au…
The Office of the Staff Secretary
The Office of the Staff Secretary, a unit recommended by the first Hoover Commission, appeared in the White House Office in fall 1953. Since then, many of its original tasks have become the responsibility of the Office of Administration. The contemporary staff secretary serves as the “last substantive control point before papers reach the Oval Office.” In addition, the staff secretary typically supervises the Offices of the Executive Clerk, Recor…
Strengthening Presidential Decision-Making Capacity
Strengthening Presidential Decision‐Making Capacity
Like the U.S. political system as a whole, the presidency has grown far more open to members of the public and, especially, to organised interests. Over roughly the same period, the presidency has become less permeable to much of the expertise and experience available within the executive branch. Together, these two features have contributed to weaknesses in the decision‐making capacity of the institution, with implications for policy effectivene…
Legalizing Gender Inequality
White House Staff Size
This article explores issues related to the size and complexity of the White House Office (WHO). Overall numbers from the Roosevelt through the Carter administrations show uneven growth (and decline) in the White House staff and point to the need for more disaggregated analysis. Attention focuses on three offices (congressional relations, speechwriting, and public liaison) in the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations as illustrations of the var…
Qualitative Research and the Study of the U.S. Presidency
Research on the U.S. presidency is among the areas of political science that have suffered in prestige due to its alleged underdevelopment as a "scientific" field. Here, we challenge that charge, and in the spirit of trying to strengthen analyses, we identify some common issues in presidency research (especially that relying on qualitative data) and suggest possible responses. In doing so, we adopt the somewhat unusual tactic of taking a hard loo…
Policymakers and Wordsmiths
The writing of speeches for the President is inevitably connected to public policy. Speeches provide opportunities to articulate policy, and their preparation often forces the setting of agendas and the determination or clarification of policy positions. This makes the growing disjunction between presidential speeches and the clear, accurate expression of administration goals and policy initiatives noted by observers of the contemporary presidenc…
Turning Points in Social Security
Journal Article Turning Points in Social Security: From “Cruel Hoax” to “Sacred Entitlement” By Sheryl R. Tynes. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996. xii, 253 pp. $39.50, ISBN0-8047-2579-9.) Get access Karen Hult Karen Hult Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 83, Issue 4, March 1997, Pages 1459–…
Governing the White House
Yes, Mr. President
Right Turn
Principal-agent models can justify political management of career officials, while at the same time predicting challenges to it, in part reflecting the different ideological goals of careerists and political appointees. Indeed, the “administrative presidency” strategies Ronald Reagan pursued anticipated and heightened such conflict through attempts to “politicize” the federal executive. Such strategies may help account for the findings of Aberbac…
Organizing the White House
Presidential capacity has an important and enduring organizational dimension. Yet, scholars tend to focus upon presidential styles, roles, and objectives, or on the pressures of the political system-frequently overlooking organizational concerns. We develop an organizational-level analysis of the White House staff, relying on a variant of organization theory-the governance approach-to generate propositions about the staff's structure and dynamics…
White House Structure and Decision Making
A consensus has emerged about how White House staffs should be organized, which we refer to as the “standard model.” Yet recent presidencies have produced various kinds of dissatisfaction with the performance of the White House staff. Here, we explore whether the new normative understanding of White House structuring for decision making offers prescriptions that are as “good” as they might be. Focusing on the limitations of hierarchical structuri…
Refounding Public Administration
White House Staff Size
This article explores issues related to the size and complexity of the White House Office (WHO). Overall numbers from the Roosevelt through the Carter administrations show uneven growth (and decline) in the White House staff and point to the need for more disaggregated analysis. Attention focuses on three offices (congressional relations, speechwriting, and public liaison) in the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations as illustrations of the var…
White House Evolution and Institutionalization
In exploring the evolution and institutionalization of the White House chief of staff and the office that chiefs oversee, we focus on presidencies from Reagan through Obama. We pay particular attention to the evolution of several major roles that chiefs of staff perform, to the dynamics in the chief of staff's office, and to the emergence of multiple deputy chiefs of staff. Despite variation in the activities and emphases of chiefs of staff and t…
Policymakers and Wordsmiths
The writing of speeches for the President is inevitably connected to public policy. Speeches provide opportunities to articulate policy, and their preparation often forces the setting of agendas and the determination or clarification of policy positions. This makes the growing disjunction between presidential speeches and the clear, accurate expression of administration goals and policy initiatives noted by observers of the contemporary presidenc…
Assessing the Trump White House
This essay examines and assesses the dynamics of the White House and broader executive branch under President Donald J. Trump. It probes the performance of key institutional responsibilities, focusing on selected areas of policy and of administration. Evaluated on the effectiveness of achieving the administration's goals and on implications for governance, the Trump presidency receives at best a mixed review. Its accomplishments included boosting…
The White House Counsel's Office
The Office of White House Counsel sits at the intersection of law, politics, and policy. Its distinctive challenge is to advise the president to take actions that are both legally sound and politically astute. Often called “the president's lawyer,” the counsel's office serves, more accurately, as the “presidency's lawyer,” with tasks that extend well beyond the exclusively legal. Drawing on interviews with previous occupants of the office, the au…
Strengthening Presidential Decision‐Making Capacity
Like the U.S. political system as a whole, the presidency has grown far more open to members of the public and, especially, to organised interests. Over roughly the same period, the presidency has become less permeable to much of the expertise and experience available within the executive branch. Together, these two features have contributed to weaknesses in the decision‐making capacity of the institution, with implications for policy effectivene…
Contemporary Presidency The Office of the Chief of Staff in the Trump White House, 2017–2019
Focusing on White House chiefs of staff and the Office of the Chief of Staff during the first three years of the Donald Trump administration, we examine the office and its occupants in the context of past scholarship on White House structuring and staffing. We discuss four major roles performed by chiefs of staff and their deputies (administrator, advisor, guardian, proxy), exploring their participation in management and in policy processes. We a…
Organizational Design as Public Policy
Policy Studies JournalVolume 17, Issue 3 p. 469-494 ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AS PUBLIC POLICY Karen M. Hult, Karen M. Hult Pomona CollegeSearch for more papers by this authorCharles Walcott, Charles Walcott University of MinnesotaSearch for more papers by this author Karen M. Hult, Karen M. Hult Pomona CollegeSearch for more papers by this authorCharles Walcott, Charles Walcott University of MinnesotaSearch for more papers by this author First publi…
Governing in Bureaucracies
This analysis applies a variant of organization theory, the governance approach, to the 1982 formulation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of the parental notification rule covering adolescents who receive prescription contraceptives from federally funded family planning clinics. Uncertainties about and controversies over policy goals and technologies shaped and reflected the policy debate and the structures developed for finali…
Enabling Potus
Through the lens of past scholarship on White House structuring and staffing, we analyze the performance of Mark Meadows, President Donald Trump's final chief of staff. We examine the major roles performed by chiefs of staff and their offices, exploring their participation in management and in policy processes. Probing the roles, activities, and performance of Meadows and his Trump administration predecessors underscores the variation among chief…
The C hicago Clan
Objectives This article examines the roles, responsibilities, and performance of the first two W hite H ouse chiefs of staff during the O bama administration: R ahm E manuel and W illiam D aley. Methods Data are drawn and analyzed from academic and media resources, original interviews conducted by the authors with former staff in the O bama W hite H ouse, and public documents. Results Perhaps the most high‐profile chief of staff in history, R ahm…
Civic Engagement and Internet Use in Local Governance
Civically and politically interested individuals often use the Internet to facilitate and augment their civic and political participation. At the local level, such people also use the Internet to communicate and share information with fellow members of the local community groups to which they belong. In doing so, local groups help to create awareness and draw citizens into public deliberation about local issues and concerns, not only offline (a r…
Organizing the White House
Presidential capacity has an important and enduring organizational dimension. Yet, scholars tend to focus upon presidential styles, roles, and objectives, or on the pressures of the political system-frequently overlooking organizational concerns. We develop an organizational-level analysis of the White House staff, relying on a variant of organization theory-the governance approach-to generate propositions about the staff's structure and dynamics…
Governing in Bureaucracies
This analysis applies a variant of organization theory, the governance approach, to the 1982 formulation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of the parental notification rule covering adolescents who receive prescription contraceptives from federally funded family planning clinics. Uncertainties about and controversies over policy goals and technologies shaped and reflected the policy debate and the structures developed for finali…
Organizational Design as Public Policy
Policy Studies JournalVolume 17, Issue 3 p. 469-494 ORGANIZATIONAL DESIGN AS PUBLIC POLICY Karen M. Hult, Karen M. Hult Pomona CollegeSearch for more papers by this authorCharles Walcott, Charles Walcott University of MinnesotaSearch for more papers by this author Karen M. Hult, Karen M. Hult Pomona CollegeSearch for more papers by this authorCharles Walcott, Charles Walcott University of MinnesotaSearch for more papers by this author First publi…
Refounding Public Administration
Committing to an Organization
United States
Yes, Mr. President
Governing the White House
Turning Points in Social Security
Journal Article Turning Points in Social Security: From “Cruel Hoax” to “Sacred Entitlement” By Sheryl R. Tynes. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1996. xii, 253 pp. $39.50, ISBN0-8047-2579-9.) Get access Karen Hult Karen Hult Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 83, Issue 4, March 1997, Pages 1459–…
Policymakers and Wordsmiths
The writing of speeches for the President is inevitably connected to public policy. Speeches provide opportunities to articulate policy, and their preparation often forces the setting of agendas and the determination or clarification of policy positions. This makes the growing disjunction between presidential speeches and the clear, accurate expression of administration goals and policy initiatives noted by observers of the contemporary presidenc…
White House Staff Size
This article explores issues related to the size and complexity of the White House Office (WHO). Overall numbers from the Roosevelt through the Carter administrations show uneven growth (and decline) in the White House staff and point to the need for more disaggregated analysis. Attention focuses on three offices (congressional relations, speechwriting, and public liaison) in the Nixon, Ford, and Carter administrations as illustrations of the var…
Qualitative Research and the Study of the U.S. Presidency
Research on the U.S. presidency is among the areas of political science that have suffered in prestige due to its alleged underdevelopment as a "scientific" field. Here, we challenge that charge, and in the spirit of trying to strengthen analyses, we identify some common issues in presidency research (especially that relying on qualitative data) and suggest possible responses. In doing so, we adopt the somewhat unusual tactic of taking a hard loo…
Strengthening Presidential Decision-Making Capacity
Strengthening Presidential Decision‐Making Capacity
Like the U.S. political system as a whole, the presidency has grown far more open to members of the public and, especially, to organised interests. Over roughly the same period, the presidency has become less permeable to much of the expertise and experience available within the executive branch. Together, these two features have contributed to weaknesses in the decision‐making capacity of the institution, with implications for policy effectivene…
Legalizing Gender Inequality
The White House Counsel's Office
The Office of White House Counsel sits at the intersection of law, politics, and policy. Its distinctive challenge is to advise the president to take actions that are both legally sound and politically astute. Often called “the president's lawyer,” the counsel's office serves, more accurately, as the “presidency's lawyer,” with tasks that extend well beyond the exclusively legal. Drawing on interviews with previous occupants of the office, the au…
The Office of the Staff Secretary
The Office of the Staff Secretary, a unit recommended by the first Hoover Commission, appeared in the White House Office in fall 1953. Since then, many of its original tasks have become the responsibility of the Office of Administration. The contemporary staff secretary serves as the “last substantive control point before papers reach the Oval Office.” In addition, the staff secretary typically supervises the Offices of the Executive Clerk, Recor…
With the Stroke of a Pen
The Bush Staff and Cabinet System
Additional informationNotes on contributorsKaren M. HultCharles E. Walcott and Karen M. Hult are both professors of political science at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Among other publications, they have coauthored three books: Governing the White House: From Hoover through LBJ, Governing Public Organizations, and the forthcoming Empowering the White House: Governance under Nixon, Ford, and Carter
Right Turn
Principal-agent models can justify political management of career officials, while at the same time predicting challenges to it, in part reflecting the different ideological goals of careerists and political appointees. Indeed, the “administrative presidency” strategies Ronald Reagan pursued anticipated and heightened such conflict through attempts to “politicize” the federal executive. Such strategies may help account for the findings of Aberbac…
White House Structure and Decision Making
A consensus has emerged about how White House staffs should be organized, which we refer to as the “standard model.” Yet recent presidencies have produced various kinds of dissatisfaction with the performance of the White House staff. Here, we explore whether the new normative understanding of White House structuring for decision making offers prescriptions that are as “good” as they might be. Focusing on the limitations of hierarchical structuri…
George Akerson's Legacy
The growth and structural evolution of the White House press office have been primarily responses to the burgeoning and diversification of the mass communications media. As the White House press corps has grown, the press office adapted through expansion and structural elaboration. At the same time, the emergence of an increasingly complex media culture, partly a result of technological changes, called into question the role of traditional press …
Civic Engagement and Internet Use in Local Governance
Civically and politically interested individuals often use the Internet to facilitate and augment their civic and political participation. At the local level, such people also use the Internet to communicate and share information with fellow members of the local community groups to which they belong. In doing so, local groups help to create awareness and draw citizens into public deliberation about local issues and concerns, not only offline (a r…
The C hicago Clan
Objectives This article examines the roles, responsibilities, and performance of the first two W hite H ouse chiefs of staff during the O bama administration: R ahm E manuel and W illiam D aley. Methods Data are drawn and analyzed from academic and media resources, original interviews conducted by the authors with former staff in the O bama W hite H ouse, and public documents. Results Perhaps the most high‐profile chief of staff in history, R ahm…
White House Evolution and Institutionalization
In exploring the evolution and institutionalization of the White House chief of staff and the office that chiefs oversee, we focus on presidencies from Reagan through Obama. We pay particular attention to the evolution of several major roles that chiefs of staff perform, to the dynamics in the chief of staff's office, and to the emergence of multiple deputy chiefs of staff. Despite variation in the activities and emphases of chiefs of staff and t…
Political science (29 works) · Law (24 works) · Law (22 works) · Politics (20 works) · Public Administration (19 works) · Public Administration (17 works) · White (mutation (12 works) · Political and Economic history of UK and US (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (10 works)