An evaluation of presidential efforts to achieve greater control over policy implementation by intransigent federal bureaucracies. Benze asserts] that Ronald Reagan's use of budget cuts and appointment of conservative ideologues tended to enhance presidential power more readily than attempts at bureaucratic reorganization. Based on mail surveys of more than 350 domestic administrators, the author concludes that bureaucratic acceptance of management techniques requires the kind of persuasive political skills Reagan displayed in his first term, but were lacking in the Carter Administration....

Nancy Reagan has stirred passionate defenders and acerbic critics in many books and the media. James Benze, however, is the first biographer to discuss the effect of her acting background on her tenure as first lady. Unlike earlier biographers, he focuses on the way she applied her acting skills to meet the...