The Promotion of the City Manager Plan

Publicity symbols and techniques were used with spectacular success in the early promotion of the city manager plan. Why has the plan spread less rapidly in recent years? The author, who worked with Harold A. Stone and Kathryn H. Stone on a study of city manager government for the Committee on Public Administration of the Social Science Research Council, argues in this article that many supporters of the plan have misused its symbois because they have not believed in the fundamental purpose of city manager government. Mr. Price is assistant director of Public Administration Clearing House.