| Popis: |
A truly illustrious member of our public administration family, John W. Macy, Jr., died December 22, 1986. Appropriately, his death was well reported in the press. The consciously skeptical Washington Post even published an uncommon, laudatory editorial, declaring him "an outstanding role model for career civil servants." It described his legacy as the "continuing quest for quality to sustain the American government as a human institution in which all taxpayers are stockholders. " I Important as the Post editorial was in recognizing his contributions to better government in the world society, the loss of John Macy ought to command even greater attention in our field. It is a life upon which we must reflect and from which we should derive learning today and for many years into the future. As a personal matter, I have experienced a great need to think about John as a person, as a public administration careerist, and as a consequential contributor to a better society. The purpose of this essay is to share some feelings about his place and his importance. It should be reported that the task is a daunting one. John was involved in so much and in so many ways that it is impossible for any single individual to capture all that he was and meant to people. While I occupied only a small space in his life, I did have the opportunity to serve as a subordinate on three different occasions. Beyond that, we met relatively frequently over the past 15 years; and those sessions, involving our families, have left extremely fond memories. For those who are unaware of John Macy's career, a summary of his principal activities and positions is printed in place of an abstract for this essay. Here, I seek to address two questions that have helped me to understand his legacy better. They are: 1. What are the probabilities that toaay's society can produce more John Macys? 2. Is John Macy the most important single figure in the approximately 100 years while public personnel administration has been a matter of conscious public concern? |
