When Bureaucrats Become Political Pawns
FIRST INSTANCE: The Legacy of Schedule C The concept of making it easier to fire career civil servants has deep roots, tracing back to efforts to politicize the bureaucracy. While the current proposal uses the language of 'subverting directives,' the precedent for creating politically malleable positions goes back to the 1950s. The Eisenhower administration, through Executive Order 10450 in 1953,
established 'Schedule C' appointments, allowing presidents to appoint loyalists to policy-determining positions outside typical civil service protections. While initially targeting perceived communist infiltration, it set a critical precedent: the executive branch could create categories of federal employees with diminished job security, paving the way for future political purges disguised as
administrative reform. This initial crack in the merit-based system laid the groundwork for future attempts to expand presidential control over the federal workforce. REPETITIONS: Nixon's Ambitions and Project 90 The erosion of civil service protections saw significant acceleration under President Richard Nixon. Frustrated by what he viewed as a resistant and 'unresponsive' bureaucracy, Nixon
launched initiatives like 'Project 90' in 1970, aiming to identify and remove federal employees deemed disloyal or obstructive to his agenda. This wasn't about performance; it was about political alignment. His administration explored ways to reclassify thousands of career positions into political appointments, effectively trying to remake the entire federal apparatus in his image. Key figures