In its effort to develop such statements ofgenerality this report will study the work and results of a number of commissions and other similarbodies that have had executive organization and reorganization as part of their mandate. Forpurposes of this report, these reorganization exercises are referred to collectively as "landmarkcommissions." Context for discussion of landmark commissions in the 20th century is provided by a reviewand analysis of six crucial periods in the evolution of the organization of the executive branch ofgovernment: 
the Founders and the political theory that informed their organizationaldecisions in 1789;
the interplay of the President and Congress in executive organizationalmanagement during the 19th century;
the Progressive Movement of the 20th century's first decades and its continuinglegacy;
the rise and decline of "orthodoxy" in organizational management of theexecutive branch; 
the interregnum period (1972-1992) with its doctrinal heterodoxy;and
the emergence of a New Public Management paradigm and itscritics. The selected landmark commissions of the recently completed century, beginning with theKeep Commission in 1905, are described and analyzed in chronological order. Promoters of NPM ("entrepreneurs") rely on literature, propositions, and practices thatstrive for convergence of the governmental and private sectors. Constitutionalists view the government and private sectors as distinct in character, with thedistinctions founded in law. Keep Commission (1905-1909)

Context. He believed that the true purpose of reorganization wasimproved management.... (265) 

		National Performance Review (1993-1997) National Partnership for Reinventing Government (1997-2000)(266)

Context. Has the day of the landmark commission passed? The result isincreasing disaggregation in the organization and management of the executive branch. Several generalizations may be useful in concluding this review and analysis of landmarkcommissions and their utility for the future.
This report studies the work and results of a number of 20th century commissions and other similarbodies that have had executive organization and reorganization as central to their mandate. Forpurposes of this report, these reorganization exercises are referred to as "landmark commissions."
Context for discussion of landmark commissions is provided by a review and analysis of sixcrucial historical periods, such as the Progressive Era, in the evolution of the executive branch. Theselected landmark commissions, beginning with the Keep Commission in 1905 and concluding withthe National Performance Review (1993-2000) are described and analyzed in chronological order.
Each commission and its work is founded on philosophical principles of management, someof which are made explicit while others have to be interpreted from texts and actions. The prevailingconsensus on organizational management principles changed considerably during the course of the20th century and these changing principles and assumptions are analyzed.
Highlighted is the current debate over which set of principles should form the basis for futureorganizational design and management in the executive branch. The debate, in its essence, isbetween those believing that the governmental and private sectors are distinctive in theircharacteristics, based on legal theory, and ought to kept separate ("constitutionalists"), and those whobelieve that the governmental and private sectors are essentially alike and ought to be organized andmanaged according to generic principles with an economic foundation ("entrepreneurs").
The report concludes with a discussion of the future, if any, for the landmark commissionapproach to organizational management in the executive branch.