"The American system of government is today far too weak to do the job now assigned to it, let alone the job that ought to be given." In this book, adapted from his Godkin Lectures at Harvard University in March 1968, the then-president of the Ford Foundation contends that the explosive social and technological change of recent decades has greatly increased the need for stronger and more effective national government.

To illustrated his thesis, Mr. Bundy discusses the growing need for effective governmental action in the struggle against racism and poverty, the revolution in communications,...