Reagan vs. Carter: Who Was Right?

My first real job after college, not including a six-month stint as a travel agent, was as the Director of Recreation at a Christian retirement community in New Jersey. During my 11 years there, I also served as the Director of Development and Volunteer Services.

As a 23-year-old department head who was thrust into a leadership position while still wet behind my ears, I was mentored by the man who hired me and – for whatever reason – saw lots of potential in me. Don Gilmore had three basic management principles that he communicated to me and the rest of his executive team: hire the right people, train them well, and then give them the authority to do their jobs properly.

Don’s logic was simple. If you did your job right by screening the various applicants for an opening, hiring the best candidate, and then training them accordingly, there was no need to micro-manage them by constantly looking over their shoulder. Just give them the ball and let them run with it.

I have followed Don’s three-point management philosophy with much success throughout my 40-year administrative career with three different nonprofit organizations. I even had the opportunity to thank him recently for taking a chance on such a “greenhorn” way back in 1983.

So, what does this have to do with politics? Well, it has a lot to do with why Jimmy Carter crashed and burned as president and why Ronald Reagan exceeded all expectations but his own.

From January 20, 1977, to January 20, 1981, James Earl Carter ran the White House like he was still a naval officer. According to those who served in his administration, he micro-managed everyone and everything, refusing to delegate authority without checking (and double-checking) to make sure the job was done correctly. Such a hands-on approach may work well in a small engineering firm, but not in a behemoth such as the federal government.

Meanwhile, Ronald Wilson Reagan took a lot of flack for delegating power – and the responsibility that goes with it – to his subordinates including his cabinet officers. The key was that, unlike Carter who surrounded himself with long-time friends dubbed the “Georgia Mafia, Reagan sought out competent and well-respected leaders from corporate America and every walk of life.

Among Carter’s friends from the Peach State who managed to secure prominent positions in his cabinet were Hamilton Jordan (Chief of Staff), Jody Powell (Press Secretary), Bert Lance (Budget Director), Gerald Rafshoon (Communications Director), Stuart Eizenstat (Domestic Policy Advisor), and Griffin Bell (Attorney General). Conversely, Reagan followed John F. Kennedy’s example by bringing in some of the brightest and most successful people in America to serve alongside him.

Among Reagan’s hires were Malcolm Baldridge (Commerce), Casper Weinberger and Frank Carlucci (Defense), Bill Bennett (Education), Richard Schweiker (HHS), and the trifecta of William French Smith, Ed Meese, and Richard Thornburgh (Attorney General). Add to that mix Alexander Haig and George Schultz (State), Elizabeth Dole (Transportation), and another trifecta at the Treasury Department (Donald Regan, James A. Baker, and Nicholas Brady) and you have a powerhouse of intellect and experience.

It was once said about Arnold Palmer that no one enjoyed being himself more than he did. In the same manner, Ronald Reagan was comfortable in his own skin… and that confidence allowed him the latitude to hire bright people and then to give them the authority to do their jobs well.

Historians would be hard-pressed to say that Carter’s micro-managing style generated better results than Reagan’s less restrictive approach. His critics may have called Reagan detached, but I think the Gipper knew exactly what he was doing.

The proof is in the pudding (I mean the jellybeans!)

“Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don’t interfere as long as the policy you’ve decided upon is being carried out.” – Ronald Reagan