The civil service was once politicized. Then a president was assassinated.
Reformers in the Republican Party, which dominated national politics in the 1860s and 1870s, had been calling for a ...
How a president's death helped kill Washington's "spoils system"
In the 1800s, the main job requirement for most federal employees was loyalty to the newly-elected president. But after a rejected office-seeker shot President James Garfield, reformers won ...
Civil Servants Are Not America’s Enemies
Donald Trump is waging war on the civil service in the name of efficiency. But Washington created the modern civil service to ...
Trump’s Corrupt Plan to Fire Federal Workers, Hire Loyalists and Build His Own ‘Deep State’
Shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development, freezing foreign aid, placing the agency’s 10,000 employees ...
Talking Points Memo7mon
Trump Wants To Reinstate Spoils System, Hiring Loyalists Regardless Of Competence
This became known as the “spoils system.” Like Trump ... after a disgruntled office seeker assassinated President Chester Garfield. Congress then passed the Pendleton Act in 1883, which ...
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How a president's death helped kill Washington's "spoils system"
But after a rejected office-seeker shot President James Garfield, reformers won long-sought-after changes: workers hired for their expertise, not their fealty. Correspondent Mo Rocca talks with ...