1969

Newly elected President Richard Nixon graced the cover of the inaugural issue of Government Executive. The cover was so popular we made color reprints available for $2.50 apiece. "What you have here is the first monthly issue of a brand new publication written for and about experts in running the machinery of government," wrote C.W. Borklund, our original editor and publisher.

Rumors circulated that Nixon wanted to fold the U.S. Information Agency into the State Department, leaving workers at the Voice of America worrying about their future. But it would take 30 years for the rumored move to come to pass. Under legislation passed last year, USIA will become part of the State Department by Oct. 1.

In October 1969, just a few months after Neil Armstrong took a giant leap for mankind, we reported that the federal government had 4,600 computers, up from 403 10 years earlier. Today, the General Services Administration alone has 17,000 personal computers (GSA had 24 computers in 1969).

1971

The Government Printing Office was undergoing a "revolution in printing," we reported in January. The revolutionary weapon: microfilm. "The problem of massive government printing requirements that had its genesis in the Civil War may be solved by the use of microfilm," our story said. That same year (though we didn't report it), the government's Arpanet, the precursor to the Internet, expanded to 15 sites.

In May our cover featured William D. Ruckelshaus, the first Environmental Protection Agency administrator.

1972

In September, we revealed that a "task force finds bureaucracy resistant to change." The study also concluded that the government's pay and classification system was archaic and in need of massive reform. The Office of Personnel Management plans to introduce legislative proposals in 1999 to give agencies more freedom from governmentwide personnel rules.

1976

Members of Congress bemoaned government procurement practices. Then-Sen. Lawton Chiles, D-Fla., pointed to a 120,000-word stack of federal specifications for a mouse trap and said, "If the average household bought goods and services the way the government does, they wouldn't be able to afford their next meal, much less a mouse trap." Toilet seats and hammers would come later.

1981

Though three years had passed since Congress created the Senior Executive Service, Uncle Sam's top managers were feeling underappreciated. Top executives had been stuck with the same pay rate for two years because lawmakers hadn't given themselves a raise. SES pay was-and still is-tied to congressional pay. Executives still in federal service are by now used to the pay freeze routine-top-ranked SESers have received only one raise since 1993.

1986

May's issue featured ads for the SmokeBuster, a device that in today's federal buildings would be obsolete. Using the slogan "Less Smoke, More Work," the manufacturers of Smokebuster, a ceiling-mounted air cleaner, promised to allow workers the best of both worlds. "You've heard the complaints in your office. Nonsmokers who don't want to breathe other people's smoke. Smokers who demand the right to use tobacco at their work stations. But segregation of smokers from nonsmokers makes no business sense," the ad said. In July 1998, President Clinton signed an executive order banning smoking in federal offices. So long, Smokebuster.

1988

Thousands of Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan enrollees in more than 500 health plans watched helplessly as costs continued to rise. OPM announced that the government's share of health premiums would cost 30 percent more in 1989 than it did in 1988, and enrollees would be paying about $500 more for insurance than in 1987. Similarly, in 1998 OPM estimated that health insurance premiums would rise an average of 7.2 percent, the largest increase in 10 years.

In 1999, the average employee will pay about $200 more than last year. In the late 1980s, the rate increase was attributed to economic inefficiency. In 1998, OPM said the rise was due to high prescription medicine costs and the increasing age of federal workers.

1989

"Doing more with less" has been government reformers' mantra for as long as Government Executive has been around.

But in 1989, we reported that government, in fact, was doing less with less. Reagan administration cutbacks, structural changes in federal spending and a burgeoning budget deficit conspired to tax managers' ability to manage.

In nearly every corner of the federal bureaucracy, managers argued that with fewer people and smaller budgets, they were less able to perform their agencies' missions. "Welcome to the Hollow Government," we wrote. "This is the federal government of the present and, unless things change, it is the federal government of the future."

1991

Under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, the federal workforce grew by about 43,000 people, we reported. From 1994 to 1996, President Clinton would downsize the civil service by about three times that amount. In 1991, Government Executive also reported that the government's 7,800 Senior Executive Service members were making an average of $78,861, while the average federal salary was about $32,000. In 1998, by contrast, SESers numbered 6,911 and made an average of $119, 656, while the average worker made $45,546.

1993

Jeffrey Birnbaum, a reporter who covered the Clinton campaign for The Wall Street Journal, made predictions about the substance and style of Clinton's presidency for Government Executive readers. "At his core Clinton is a savvy, veteran top government executive, as hard-nosed as he is charming, with very strong views about how a government should be run," Birnbaum wrote, predicting Clinton would "try to clean up government and its public image." As for style, Birnbaum said Clinton "likes to be in control, on matters large and small."