The White House Staff and the National Security Assistant: Friendship and Friction at the Water's Edge

(Hardback)

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As this review is written, newspapers and television across the US depict the activities of the presidential apparatus this book examines. Present reality varies shaprly from the practices it describes. Bock (BDM Corporation and a representative in the Missouri General Assembly) has the misfortune to write a major work that is confounded by events now unfolding. He considers the relation of the president's national security assistant to events and to apparent policy consequences' from the Truman era to the early years of the Reagan administration. Since his text runs only 185 pages, Bock must paint with a broad brush, but his work is useful and timely. One point emerges: with a dominant president strong enough to direct and control his staff at this sensitive level, lines of communication are open and operative; but if the president allows his policies to drift or remain unstated or vague, the office and its occupants will go out of control in a number of troublesome ways. In the absence of any other prescriptive work, Bock's book can serve as a blueprint for future scholars...-Choice
Joseph G. Bock, a staff member at the BDM Corporation and a state representative in the Missouri General Assembly, has written an arresting book about foreign policymaking involving the national security assistant, the president, and political advisors at the White House, Bock traces the evolution in presidential thinking about the role of the national security assistant from a career staff member under Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, to a free-wheeling, policy assistant under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan. The book presents an administration-by-administration synopsis of how each has viewed the functions of the national security assistant, beginning with the creation of the office under the Truman administration in 1947 through the completion of the first Reagan administration (1984). Bock has consulted every major source in the field, along with several little-known works. His bibliography is a gold mine' of information about the National Security Council. In addition, Bock interviewed many of the former NSC assistants and several former members of the White House staff.... Although this book ends with the first Reagan term, its insights into the evolution of the national security assistant from career bureaucrat to political advisor add new understanding to the imbroglios of the second Reagan administration. Clearly written and informative, this timely book is of interest to the general reader and poltical scientist alike. It should be on the shelf of every presidential scholar.-Perspective
"As this review is written, newspapers and television across the US depict the activities of the presidential apparatus this book examines. Present reality varies shaprly from the practices it describes. Bock (BDM Corporation and a representative in the Missouri General Assembly) has the misfortune to write a major work that is confounded by events now unfolding. He considers the relation of the president's national security assistant to events and to apparent policy consequences' from the Truman era to the early years of the Reagan administration. Since his text runs only 185 pages, Bock must paint with a broad brush, but his work is useful and timely. One point emerges: with a dominant president strong enough to direct and control his staff at this sensitive level, lines of communication are open and operative; but if the president allows his policies to drift or remain unstated or vague, the office and its occupants will go out of control in a number of troublesome ways. In the absence of any other prescriptive work, Bock's book can serve as a blueprint for future scholars..."-Choice
"Joseph G. Bock, a staff member at the BDM Corporation and a state representative in the Missouri General Assembly, has written an arresting book about foreign policymaking involving the national security assistant, the president, and political advisors at the White House, Bock traces the evolution in presidential thinking about the role of the national security assistant from a career staff member under Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, to a free-wheeling, policy assistant under Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Reagan. The book presents an administration-by-administration synopsis of how each has viewed the functions of the national security assistant, beginning with the creation of the office under the Truman administration in 1947 through the completion of the first Reagan administration (1984). Bock has consulted every major source in the field, along with several little-known works. His bibliography is a gold mine' of information about the National Security Council. In addition, Bock interviewed many of the former NSC assistants and several former members of the White House staff.... Although this book ends with the first Reagan term, its insights into the evolution of the national security assistant from career bureaucrat to political advisor add new understanding to the imbroglios of the second Reagan administration. Clearly written and informative, this timely book is of interest to the general reader and poltical scientist alike. It should be on the shelf of every presidential scholar."-Perspective

Author Bio

JOSEPH G. BOCK is a staff member at the BDM Corporation, a professional and technical services company, and is also a State Representative in the Missouri General Assembly.