Candidate Jimmy Carter in 1976 had praised "Cabinet government." President

Carter in 1979 had fired three of his Cabinet officers. This hour offers an often surprising look at how the modern Executive Branch works. WFB: "Now, Roosevelt and Eisenhower used their Cabinets extensively. Kennedy did not; it bored him to tears. Lyndon Johnson hardly knew the names of his Cabinet members.... And historians seem to be saying that the growth of the Executive is such as to incline a President to deal with his associates--with the people who are right around him--rather than with the people who are, however ostentatious their responsibilities, one step removed." ... JHW: "Many years ago ... I read a book by Robert Ardrey called The Territorial Imperative, in which he set out why this instinct for turf was so strong among primates. I can report to you, based on my three and a half years of experience in government, that the instinct for turf... among government bureaucrats is about one hundred times what it is among gorillas."