Justin S. Vaughn and Jose D. Villalobos have written Czars in the White House: The Rise of Policy Czars as Presidential Management Tools (University of Michigan Press, 2015). Vaughn is Associate Professor of Political Science at Boise State University; Villalobos is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Texas at El Paso. Who will best carry out the policy goals of the President? Appointed officials or White House advisors? Vaughn and Villalobos track 40 years of Presidents deciding that advisors – czars – can best oversee drug policy, AIDS policy, and energy policy. They find considerable variation in how effectively each president’s czars have served in the role, ranging from powerful individuals, such as Richard Nixon’s energy czar, William Simon, to largely ineffective ones, such as Adolfo Carrion, President Obama’s urban policy czar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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