Search

Site Map
Contact

National Postal Museum

 Smithsonian National Postal Museum

skip navigation
About the Museum
Exhibits
The Collection
For Educators
Stamp Collecting
Resources
Getting Involved
Activity Zone
Arago: People, Postage and the Post



Conflict & Compromise in History
Postal Connections > Stories > Postal Reorganization Act of 1970
 
Postal Reorganization Act of 1970
NHD Categories:

Political Conflict and Compromise
Economic Conflict and Compromise


Time frame: 1969-1971

The Postmaster General used to sit on the President’s Cabinet. The 1970 Postal Reorganization Act directed the Postmaster General to transform the Postal Service from a cabinet level, federal agency to a government run corporation. Post Master General Winton Blount’s efforts were met with much commentary and criticism. Political cartoonists especially enjoyed targeting Blount. Eventually, Blount became known as “the man who successfully took the Post Office out of politics.” Learn the compelling story of strategy and compromise this shift required.

Getting Started:
 

Online resources:
“Who was Winton Blount?”, National Postal Museum.

Richard Nixon’s Remarks on Signing the Postal Reorganization Act, Aug. 12, 1970, The American Presidency Project. 
  Books:
Doing It My Way by Winton Blount; Greenwich Publishing Group: Lyme, Connecticut, 1996.
 

Articles:
“The Creative-Destructive Process of Organizational Change: The Case of the Post Office” by Nicole Woolsey Biggart; Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 3, Sept., 1977; pp. 410-426.

“Closing a Government Facility” by Robert Behn; Public Administration Review, Vol. 38, No. 4, Jul.-Aug., 1978, pp. 332-338.
 
back button









Back to Top

 Home | Copyright and Privacy | Contact | Site Map | Smithsonian Institution | Credits