SNEIDER, Keith <br/><br/>
Rethinking public administration`s roots in pragmatism :  the case of Charles A. Beard 

 -  2000 
<br/><br/> This article portrays the pragmatism of Charles S. Peirce, William James, and John Dewey as an insignificant influence during the early years of American public administration. The mainstream thinking during that time was exemplified by the ideas of Charles A. Beard, an influential figure in the early era of the field. Beard`s writings illustrate the way public administration ignored important aspects of pragmatism in favor of practical attitudes and focus on apolitical efficiency. As a result, administrative orthodoxy developed in opposition to pragmatism, which explains the abondonment and misinterpretation of Mary Parker Follett`s ideas. Equiped with the recognition that public administation has never really fiven prgametism a change, scholars and practtioners may be led to consider its possibilities in a contemporary administrative context