The Brownlow Commission

In 1933, challenged by high unemployment and a weak economy, newly elected President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created dozens of "New Deal" agencies to regulate industry and to put Americans back to work. However, this extraordinary growth in the size of the federal bureaucracy was not reflected in the president's ability to manage these new agencies. In the early years of his administration, Roosevelt had only a handful of assistants to help him control and communicate with federal agencies. In 1936, Roosevelt asked a three-person committee, headed by Louis Brownlow, to propose methods for aiding the president in carrying out his responsibilities as chief executive.

The key recommendation of the Brownlow Commission Report, issued the following year, was that "The president needs help." Accordingly, in 1939, Congress authorized the establishment of the Executive Office of the President (EOP), and there was an immediate increase in the number of staff assigned to assist the president in managing the federal bureaucracy.

Today, in addition to the White House Office -- which employs people ranging from presidential press secretaries to White House gardeners -- the EOP contains over a dozen agencies (see Figure 1). Among the more notable ones are the National Security Council, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Council of Economic Advisers.