Continuity of Government—A Network Approach to Cabinet Level Positions Peter A. Hook, JD, MSLIS

Electronic Services LibrarianIndiana Univ. School of Law—Bloomington

Doctoral Student School of Library and Information Science

http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~pahook

The Greatest Connected Component

Number of Officials (As of June 6, 2008) Associative Conceptualization of the Cabinet Continuity Network

All networks rendered with Pajek.

Cabinet Mobility Network Is there a Starter Cabinet Position?

• In the graph on the right, arcs represent subsequent cabinet positions held by the same individual.

• In the aggregate, cabinet positions with a net outflow may be regarded as less prestigious than cabinet positions with a net inflow.

• Rationale: In the aggregate, once an individual has held a cabinet position, s/he will not accept a different one unless it is more desirable.

2 Mode Conceptualization of the Cabinet Network

Future President Cabinet Position Administration

Thomas Jefferson State George WashingtonJames Madison State Thomas Jefferson

James Monroe

State

James MadisonWar

StateJohn Q. Adams State James Monroe

Martin Van Buren State Andrew Jackson

James Buchanan State James Polk

William Taft War Theodore Roosevelt

Herbert Hoover Commerce Harding Harding

Calvin Coolidge

Presidents that have been Cabinet Members

Nodes are both people and offices. This allows for a more nuanced capturing of an administration. High inflow degree for a particular cabinet position indicates high turnover for that particular position (Attorney General (4); Secretary of the Treasury (4)). High outflow for a particular individual might indicate high confidence placed in him/her by the President (Richardson (3)).

620 people have either been President of the United States, Vice President, a cabinet member, or some combination of the three. The numbers on this chart in parenthesis indicate the number of unique individuals in a particular cabinet position. (People are counted twice if they served more than once in the same office with at least one other person serving between the two terms.) The numbers do not sum to 620, because, on average, each person serves in 1.14 different offices.

(42)

(64)

(72)

(55)

(47)

(21)

(80)Gray nodes are cabinet officials serving 30 or more days in two or more administrations. The arcs point to the presidents under whom they served (green nodes).

Harrison caveat – As President William Harrison was only in office for 32 days, all of his cabinet officials were counted as having served at least 30 days.

Breaks in ContinuityThe following presidents did not have any cabinet members that were cabinet members for 30 or more days in a previous administration:

Highest out degree = Most administrations served:

John C. Calhoun (4 ) & Henry L. Stimson (4)

(7)

(2)

vs.Secretary of State Postmaster GeneralOut Degree Weight - 9In Degree Weight - 1Net - 8 Out

Out Degree Weight - 5In Degree Weight - 24Net - 19 InNote: Out Degree does not include 6 who became President

Σ In Weights

"+"

Σ Out Weights

"-"Net

State 24 5 19Treasury 11 6 5Commerce 6 2 4Vice President 5 2 3Interior 4 1 3HHS 2 0 2Energy 2 1 1Defense 4 4 0Education 0 0 0Veterans Affairs 0 0 0Homeland Security 0 0 0Labor 1 2 -1Transportation 1 2 -1HUD 0 2 -2Navy 4 7 -3Agriculture 0 3 -3Commerce and Labor 0 3 -3Health, Ed., and Welfare 1 5 -4Attorney General 6 12 -6War 5 12 -7Postmaster General 1 9 -8

Arcs represent subsequent cabinet positions held by the same individual.