8/12/2019 Hewlett - The Washington Scene

1/5

The Washington Scene, 1977-1981Author(s): Richard G. HewlettSource: The Public Historian, Vol. 21, No. 3, The National Council on Public History:Reflections on a Twentieth Anniversary (Summer, 1999), pp. 39-42Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3378958

Accessed: 05/04/2010 06:15

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless

you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you

may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucal.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed

page of such transmission.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

University of California Pressis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The

Public Historian.

http://www.jstor.org

http://www.jstor.org/stable/3378958?origin=JSTOR-pdfhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucalhttp://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=ucalhttp://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsphttp://www.jstor.org/stable/3378958?origin=JSTOR-pdf

8/12/2019 Hewlett - The Washington Scene

2/5

P u b l i c H i s t o r y n t h F e d e r a lGovernment erspectives n dA n a l y s e s

T h e Washington S c e n e1 9 7 7 9 8

RICHARDG. HEWLETT

IN THETHIRTY EARSollowingWorldWar I, historyffices n thefederalgovernment ere ewandvery arbetween.By hat mean hat herewasveiy littlecontact etween hem.Thearmed ervicesponsoredhemostactive ndproductiverograms, hichweredesignedo capturehe les-sons f the waryears.Preeminentmong hesewasthe armyhistoricaloffice, taffedargely yacademicistorians hohadbeen eachingt thecollegeoruniversityevelbefore hewarandwhowerenowengagedncompletingheeight-three-volume'greenook eries.Theoldestederalhistoxyrogram as nthe StateDepartment,hich roducedheForeignRelationseries.A fewotherdepartments,uchasAgriculture,abor, ndInterior,taffed istorians howereable o devoteat leastsomeof theirtime ohistorical ork.When I wassuddenly aced n the springof 1957with the taskoforganizinghistoiyproject t theAtomicEnergyCommission,turnedothearmy istoricalffice oradvice ndassistance, ainly ecause,ike hearmyhistorians, hadbeen chargedo writea multi-volumecholarlyRICHARDG. HEWLETTs a founderand seniorvice presidentof HistoryAssociatesncorpo-rated. He was chief historianof the U. S. AtomicEnergyCommission nd its successoragencies,1957-1980. He served on the Boardof Directorsof the NationalCouncil onPublicHistory rom 1980 to 1985 and on the EditorialBoardof The Public Historian from1981to 1986.

39The Public Historian, Vol.21, No. 3 (Summer1999)(C) 999 by the Regentsof the University f California ndthe NationalCouncilon Public History

8/12/2019 Hewlett - The Washington Scene

3/5

40 * THEPUBLICHISTORIANhistory.Notuntilwe werewell ntoourresearch idwe take he time oconsulthehistoricalffices t State ndDefensen order o gain ccess orecords eldby thosedepartments.ecause irtuallyoneof the recordsrelatedo thewartimetomic nergy roject adyetreachedheNationalArchives, e hadno reasono go there.So forthe next ifteen ears,weburied urselvesn ourresearch ndwritingwithno thought r concernaboutwhat ther ederal istorians ight e doing.And, might dd,noneof them eemed o haveany nterestn us.All hisbeganochangenthemid-1970s,hen hemost evereobcrisissinceWorldWar I hitthe historicalrofession. raduateistory epart-mentswere churning ut scoresof historians ith no placeto go. Sodesperate as hesituationhat heAmerican istoricalssociationnd heOrganizationf AmericanHistoriansecided ogethern 1976to takeunprecedentedction. hey greedo funda National oordinatingom-mittee or hePromotionf History, move hat ventuallyould ive heprofessionor hefirst ime omethingf a lobbyingresencen Washing-ton.Thecommittee,taffednitially y onehistorian, ashousedn AHAheadquarters,ithinwoblocks f theCapitol.Withno experiencen anythingesemblingobbyingctivities,henewcommitteeurned o historiansn the scene n Washingtonorhelp,andthatmeant orthe mostparthistoriansn the federal overnment. ackThompson,heexecutiveecretaryf theAmerican istorical ssociation,askedmeto organizeFederalGovernmentesource roup. hegroup'sassignment,s I recallt, was o pull ogetherome ederal istorianshocouldprovidenformationo the Coordinatingommittee. y hat imeIwasworkingloselywithArnita ones,whohadtakenoveras executiveofficer f thecommittee.From1977until1981, he ResourceGroup onsisted f six or eighthistoriansrom smanyederal epartmentsndagencies. sI rememberit, the ResourceGroup id not spendmuch imetiying o find obs nWashingtonoracademicistorians.ather, e soonbecame ware f thelow status ndexploitationhatmany ederal istoriansaced.We wereshockedo discoverhat,underCivilService egulations,personwithahigh schooldiploma ouldqualify or a position s a historian, hilestandardsorother rofessionsequiredraduateegrees.Wedeploredhebureaucraticbstacleshatwell-qualifiedistoriansaced n placingheirnames nCivilService egistershatwere oadedwithmid-levellerks ndothernonprofessionals.e earned f thefrustrationshat ederal istori-ans elt ntryingo selectqualifiedandidatesrom hese ists.WeevenmetwithCivil ervice fficials ho istened atientlyoour omplaintsnd henexplainedowdifficultt was o changehe system.An obviousway o bring ederal istoriansogetherwasto publishdirectoxyf federal istoricalffices, oth n Washingtonnd lsewherenthenation. heResource roup rafted lans ora directorynd ubmitted

8/12/2019 Hewlett - The Washington Scene

4/5

THEWASHINGTON SCENE, 1977-1981 * 41

aproposalo theNational oordinatingommittee.MackThompsonndArnitaones eadilygreedo supportuchaneffort, nd recall elpingodesignhefirst dition f thedirectorynmyDepartmentfEnergyfficeatGermantown,robablyn 1978.Thatirstdirectoryaspublishedy heNational oordinatingommittee,woyears eforeheSocietyorHistoryintheFederalGovemmentamentoexistence.It soonbecame pparenthatour mallesourceroupwasunlikelyn tsownto makemuchheadway ith heissueswewereencountering.heobvious ut ong-rangeolutionwas o bringederal istoriansogethernanorganizationhatwould ave omeclout.Fromwhat havedescribedsthedisparatetateofthefederal istorycene nWashington,uildingnorganizationould ea difficultask.Therewasa realquestion hether ecould ure hehistoriansrom heir solated ichesn federal genciesojoin,muchessparticipaten,suchanorganization.ven hefact hat heResourceGroupmeton governmentimehadalreadyaised omeeye-brows.Howperilous ouldt betohavea large roup ffederal istoriansmeetduringworkingours?Relyingnthebureaucraticdagehatyoudon't skquestionsfyouareafraid f theanswers,heResourceGroup ecidedo pressahead naninformalasis.Wewantedirst o bringederal istoriansogethero thattheycouldmeeteachotherandgain omesenseoftheirmutualnterests.To accomplishhis,we organizedone-dayrogramttheDepartmentfEnergy uditoriumn 1979.We broughtn EugeneGenovese, distin-guished istorianhenverymuchnthepublic ye,to address plenarysession,ollowed yseveralimultaneousessionsn mattersf concernofederal istorians.hemeeting rovedosuccessfulhatwe repeatedtthefollowingear.Inpublishinghedirectoryndstagingheannualmeetings f federalhistorians,heResource roupaid hegroundworkorwhatwas obecometheSocietyorHistoryntheFederalGovernment.rawingn historiansinthefederal genciesorassistance,heResourceGroup raftedy-lawsfortheneworganizationndpresentedhemat theannualonferencenApril1980.After ome engthy iscussionnda number famendments,the constitution asadoptedandthe societywasincorporatedn theDistrict f Columbia fewweeks ater.JackHollwaselected he firstpresident.During he samemonthshatthe federalhistorians ereorganizing,manyof the samepeoplewereinvolvedn discussionshatled to thecreationftheNationalCouncil nPublicHistory. recall oingdirectlyfrom norganizingeetingor hefederal istorianso asimilarneheldatthe NationalArchiveso considerhe structuref theNationalCouncil.Soonafter hesocietywasorganized,number ffederal istoriansromWashington etwithacademic istoriansn Pittsburgho organizeheNational ouncil.believet wasatthismeetinghatallof uswereaskedo

8/12/2019 Hewlett - The Washington Scene

5/5

42 * THEPUBLICHISTORIANserveon theboard fdirectorsf the Council,he qualificationorwhichwas hewillingnessocontribute100a year osupportheneworganiza-tion.Thiswe did orseveral ears.The obcrisisorhistoriansntheUnited tatesoomedargenthemid-1970s.The nitial hock f thatcrisis, owever,enerated ew deasandapproacheshich ervedo strengthenndrevitalizeheprofessionn thelastdecades f the century.Outof the National oordinatingommitteeand heFederal esource roupame newprofessionalrganizationhattapped or the first ime the talents f federal istoriansndmade hefederal epartmentsndagencies enerallywaref theskills nd nsightsthathistoriansouldbring o policyplanningndadministration.t thesame ime, hecrisis fthe1970s evolutionizedheacademiconceptionfthehistorian'sole nsocietynthecreationfthepublic istorymovement.Onceagain, hallengepened heway o opportunity,ndopportunityonewandbetterways f applyingrofessionalkills ndcreativity.