"A well-researched, well-written volume of fresh and important scholarship and informative analysis of the upper reaches of presidential government. This is must reading for anyone who wants to understand the presidential appointment power and the dynamics of executive branch leadership." - Thomas E. Cronin, Colorado College Presidential appointees are among the most important-and least studied American policymakers. Throughout the government on any given day, they determine budget levels, issue regulations, plan new programs, initiate lawsuits, and perform many other activities that shape public policy. These cabinet and subcabinet officers, regulatory commissioners, agency heads, and their deputies are known in the federal bureaucracy as "in-and-outers," individuals for whom government service is neither a profession nor a career. This uniquely American system provides the government with a constant replenishment of energy and ideas, but it also puts many of the most difficult public jobs in the hands of people with little training. Not surprisingly, the results are mixed. The In-and-Outers offers unprecedented insights into the presidential appointment process and the backgrounds, work lives, satisfactions, and frustrations of the appointees themselves. The contributors examine such issues as recruitment, conflict of interest, Senate confirmation, job orientation, working environment, tenure and turnover, and post-employment experiences. They reveal a system that strives to bring effective management to American public administration, but one that finds its leadership positions increasingly difficult to fill.