There are two types of bureaucrats in the federal bureaucracy: political
appointees and civil servants.
Political Appointees
The president can appoint approximately 2,000 people to top positions
within the federal bureaucracy. These people are known as political
appointees.
Choosing Political Appointees
The president usually receives nominations and suggestions from party
officials, political allies, close advisers, academics, and business leaders
on whom to appoint to bureaucratic offices. Sometimes the president appoints
loyal political allies to key positions, particularly ambassadorships. This
tradition is referred to as the spoils system or simply
patronage.
The Civil Servants
In the late nineteenth century, members of the Progressive Party argued
that most government jobs should be filled with skilled experts, not unskilled
political appointees. In other words, they argued that competence rather than
political loyalty should determine who holds these jobs. The civil service
consists of the federal employees hired for their knowledge and
experience, and it constitutes most of the federal bureaucracy.
The Emergence of the Federal Civil Service
For much of the nineteenth century, presidents routinely hired
political supporters to work in the bureaucracy. Over time, the federal
bureaucracy became corrupt and inept, leading to calls for reform. In 1883,
Congress passed the Pendleton Act (also called the Civil
Service Reform Act), which put limits on the spoils system for
the first time. The act also created the Civil Service Commission,
the first central personnel agency for the federal government. At
first, civil service rules applied to only about 10 percent of federal
employees, but since then Congress has expanded the civil service, so that
it now encompasses about 90 percent of the bureaucracy.
President Jimmy Carter’s Civil Service Reform Act of 1978
reformed and clarified the rules of the civil service. The law
created the Office of Personnel Management to replace the Civil
Service Commission, and it also established the Merit Systems
Protection Board to hear complaints from employees about
violations of the rules.
Civil Servants
All civil servant applicants must pass an exam that measures skills
related to the particular civil service position they hope to fill. Some
civil service exams are general and apply to a wide range of jobs, whereas
others are focused on a particular type of job. The civil service uses the
merit system, meaning that it hires and promotes civil
servants based on their technical skills. Most civil servants are also
protected from political pressure. The best example of this protection is
the fact that it is extremely difficult to fire civil servants. In theory,
this job security prevents politicians from firing those who disagree with
them. In practice, however, it makes it hard to fire incompetent employees.
