The central theme of this article is that the critical stage in the development of the field of public administration—the most concentrated burst—covered the period between 1937-1940. Although this occupation experienced times of diffuse but substantial activity around World War 1 and during the 1960s and 1970s, the most profound changes took place shortly before the second world war. What chiefly sets this period apart from earlier and later periods of fermentation centers not so much on the quantity of innovations but, rather, on their nature (that is, their structural genre) and on their breath (their institutional reach).

This article starts with a perspective so that it may be better understood why this particular time span was instrumental to the growth of public administration. It reviews the contributions of preceding and subsequent eras in the evolution of the field, the article presents a structural synthesis by examining organizational innovations in four areas at the national level: (1) the executive branch, (2) the judiciary, (3) Congress, and (4) the profession of public administration. The paper concludes by exploring the forces that, in our view, made this period the most productive one in this history of the occupation. Finally, the research for this article rests on a reservoir of publicly available primary and secondary materials relevant to this period