Search

The article explores whether U.S. Presidents shape and control federal bureaucracy by considering the actions of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) during the administrations of U.S. Presidents Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower. The authors use a qualitative approach to explore the responsiveness of the FHA to presidential and congressional pressures, decisions of the U.S. Supreme Court, and lobbying interests. The FHA was created to insure mortgages, but from its inception, had long practiced a policy of racial segregation by enforcing a restrictive covenant policy on mortgage offerings and denying funding to African Americans, in stark contrast to the racial policies forwarded by Truman.