Studying Reorganization Plans: A Case Study of the Creation of the EPA

• In Event: Rhetoric of Washington's "Hill": Organizational Rules, Agencies, Presidential Initiatives, and Signing Statements

Abstract

This paper calls for more attention to be paid to executive orders and reorganizations plans. Using Nixon’s Reorganization Plan which created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), I discuss the unique rhetorical elements of executive orders and reorganization plans, the context that inspired Nixon’s reorganization plan, and analyze how Nixon rhetorically framed the new agency to persuade Congress that there was no alternative to the reorganization that was proposed.

Author

• Jessica Prody, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities