Making Government Work: Lessons from a Life in Politics

A bold call to action for those who would lead well and those who would be well led.

"Performance is better than promise" has long been the motto of Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, a former Governor of South Carolina and six-term U.S. Senator whose distinguished political career speaks volumes about the potential of the elected and the electorate to use government for the good of all. Making Government Work serves as equal parts political memoir and reform-minded call to action as Hollings shares compelling―and often candidly colorful―accounts from his half century of public service to illustrate the smart stewardship of resources and authority needed to enact policies that can make positive differences in the lives of Americans.

Hollings lays out clearly his deep commitment to improving our system of government, strengthening regulations on free trade, countering dependence on campaign contributions, and enhancing our communications and education programs to compete better in an information-driven global marketplace. This prescriptive compendium of sound thinking seeks to reinvigorate a floundering system and to call good people and good ideas back into the service of America's bright future.

Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings has enjoyed a remarkable career in public service as a South Carolina legislator (1949–1954), Lieutenant Governor (1955–1959), Governor (1959–1963), U.S. Senator (1966–2005), and U.S. presidential candidate (1983–1984). A visionary workhorse, Hollings has focused throughout his career on putting government on a sound financial basis and promoting economic development to create opportunities. Recognized as a policy expert on the budget, telecommunications, the environment, defense, trade, and space, he is the author of the Coastal Zone Management Act (1972), the Ocean Dumping Act (1972), and the Automobile Fuel Economy Act (1975) and coauthor of the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Act (1985). Hollings led in the creation of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children in 1972 and passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Kirk Victor covers the U.S. Senate for the National Journal and was part of a reporting team that won a National Headliner Award in 2005 for coverage of Congress. A native of Savannah, Georgia, Victor has a law degree from the Antioch School of Law and an M.S. degree in journalism from Columbia University.