One of the distinguishing characteristics of the American federal government since 1945 has been its amalgamation of administrative capabilities with professional expertise, a combination that historian Brian Balogh has labeled “the proministrative state.” Federal bureaucrats and independent professionals, although initially wary of one another, united during the postwar era to take on emerging technological and administrative challenges. Government officials in concert with professional experts promoted commercial nuclear power through the Atomic Energy Commission, oversaw advances in medical research through the National Institutes of Health, and worked to stabilize the economy through the Council of Economic Advisors. Balogh has described how these internal experts, however, eventually lost political power in the 1970s as grassroots organizations entered the political fray with their own “independent” experts, challenging the entrenched authority of professionals employed within the bureaucratic agencies of the American state.

This description of the proministrative state is extremely useful, but it overlooks a crucial paradox of the federal government in the postwar era: its remarkable lack of growth during a time of constantly expanding responsibilities. Although the number of state and local government employees in the United States more than tripled from a postwar base of 3.8 million in 1947 to 12 million in 1975, the number of federal civilian employees rose less than 50 percent from 2 million to 2.9 million over the same period.