Czar (political Term)
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Czar, sometimes spelled tsar, is an informal title used for certain high-level officials in the United States and United Kingdom, typically granted broad power to address a particular issue. The term is gender-neutral. In the United States, czars are generally
executive branch The executive branch is the part of government which executes or enforces the law. Function The scope of executive power varies greatly depending on the political context in which it emerges, and it can change over time in a given country. In ...
officials appointed by the head of the executive branch (such as the
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
for the federal government, or the
governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
of a state). Czars may require confirmation with Senate approval while others do not. Some appointees outside the executive branch are called czars as well. Specific instances of the term are often a media creation. In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, the term is more loosely used to refer to high-profile appointments who devote their skills to one particular area. The word ''
czar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...
'' is of Slavic origin, etymologically originating from the name ''
Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...
'', as with the word ''tsar'', a title of sovereignty, created and first used by the
First Bulgarian Empire The First Bulgarian Empire (; was a medieval state that existed in Southeastern Europe between the 7th and 11th centuries AD. It was founded in 680–681 after part of the Bulgars, led by Asparuh of Bulgaria, Asparuh, moved south to the northe ...
. The title was later adopted and used by the Serbian Empire and Tsardom of Russia. The feminine of the historic title is ''
czarina Tsarina or tsaritsa (also spelled ''csarina'' or ''csaricsa'', ''tzarina'' or ''tzaritza'', or ''czarina'' or ''czaricza''; ; ; ) is the title of a female autocratic ruler (monarch) of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Russia, or the title of a tsar's wife. ...
''.


United States


History


Early uses

Speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...
Joseph Gurney Cannon Joseph Gurney Cannon (May 7, 1836 – November 12, 1926) was an American politician from Illinois and a leader of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. Cannon represented parts of Illinois in the United States House of Rep ...
, was sometimes referred to as Czar Cannon (a play on the giant cannon of the same name) as a result of his power during this time. However, there was a "revolt" in the
House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...
which saw Cannon give up power, as well as an overall decentralization of power within the House. During the latter stages of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
appointed financier
Bernard Baruch Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and statesman. After amassing a fortune on the New York Stock Exchange, he impressed President Woodrow Wilson by managing the nation's economic mobilization in W ...
to run the
War Industries Board The War Industries Board (WIB) was a United States government agency established on July 28, 1917, during World War I, to coordinate the purchase of war supplies between the War Department (Department of the Army) and the Navy Department. Becaus ...
. This position was sometimes dubbed the "industry czar". One of the earliest known metaphorical usages of the term in the U.S. was in reference to Judge
Kenesaw Mountain Landis Kenesaw Mountain Landis (; November 20, 1866 – November 25, 1944) was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and the first Commissioner of Baseball, commissioner of baseball from 1920 until his death. ...
, who was named commissioner of baseball, with broad powers to clean up the sport after it had been dirtied by the
Black Sox scandal The Black Sox Scandal was a match fixing, game-fixing scandal in Major League Baseball (MLB) in which eight members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of intentionally losing the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for p ...
of 1919. In 1926, a New York City chamber of commerce named what ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' termed a "czar" to clean up the milk delivery industry.


Modern usage

In the United States, the term czar has been used by the media to refer to appointed executive branch officials since at least the 1930s and then the 1940s under President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
. In 1942, ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' reported on the "executive orders creating new czars to control various aspects of our wartime economy." Positions were created for a transportation czar, a manpower czar, a production czar, a shipping czar, and a synthetic rubber czar, all to solve difficult problems in coordinating the resources necessary to fight
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Not only did the administration of President Roosevelt advocate their creation; in December 1944, Republicans in Congress advocated that a "food czar" position be created that would have almost unlimited control over food pricing and distribution. Certain of Roosevelt's Cabinet secretaries were called "czars", despite having been duly confirmed by the Senate, at the point that their powers were increased by statute. Since then, a number of ''
ad hoc ''Ad hoc'' is a List of Latin phrases, Latin phrase meaning literally for this. In English language, English, it typically signifies a solution designed for a specific purpose, problem, or task rather than a Generalization, generalized solution ...
'' temporary as well as permanent United States Executive Branch positions have been established that have been referred to in this manner. The trend began again in earnest when President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
created two offices whose heads became known as "czars" in the popular press: drug czar in 1971, and especially
energy czar Energy Czar, and also later Climate Czar, is a nickname, using the political term "czar", for the person in the government of the United States given authority over energy or climate policy within the executive branch. This has never been the o ...
in December 1973 referring to
William E. Simon William Edward Simon (November 27, 1927 – June 3, 2000) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the 63rd United States Secretary of the Treasury. He became the Secretary of the Treasury on May 9, 1974, during the Nixon adm ...
's appointment as the head of the
Federal Energy Administration The Federal Energy Administration (FEA) was a United States government organization created in 1974 to address the 1970s energy crisis, and specifically the 1973 oil crisis.Staff report (May 8, 1974). Energy Crisis Still With Us, Nixon Warns. ''L ...
. Nixon told his cabinet that Simon would have "absolute authority" in his designated areas, and compared the intended result to
Albert Speer Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer (; ; 19 March 1905 – 1 September 1981) was a German architect who served as Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production, Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany during most of W ...
's role as the person in unquestioned charge of armaments for the
Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...
. Simon found both the informal title "czar" and the Speer comparison unsettling. However, at the height of the Arab oil embargo, Simon gave the position a good name by successfully putting into place a mandatory fuel allocation program and calming public fears about shortages without resorting to explicit gasoline rationing. Other examples of this usage include " drug czar" for the head of the
Office of National Drug Control Policy The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is a component of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The director of the ONDCP, colloquially known as the drug czar, heads the office. "Drug czar" was a term first used ...
– probably the best-known of all the "czars", "terrorism czar" for a Presidential advisor on
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
policy, "cybersecurity czar" for the highest-ranking
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...
official on
computer security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and computer network, n ...
and
information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...
policy, and "
war czar The assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, known more informally as the war czar, was a position the George W. Bush administration created to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with authority ...
" to oversee the wars in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
and
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
. In 2005, the U.S. Government Accountability Office issued an opinion regarding the use of the term "drug czar" in prepackaged news stories that had been released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy during fiscal years 2002, 2003, and 2004. The GAO found that while "the law does not bestow that title on the ONDCP Director", "ONDCP's use of the term "Drug Czar" to describe the Director of ONDCP does not constitute unlawful self-aggrandizement". The term "czar" has also been applied to officials who are not members of the Executive Branch, such as
Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Ann Warren (née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A mem ...
, named to a Congressional commission to oversee the
Troubled Asset Relief Program The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) is a program of the United States government to purchase toxic assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector that was passed by Congress and signed into law by U.S. Presi ...
in 2009 and described as an "oversight czar", and Senate-confirmed positions, such as the
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a Cabinet of the United States#Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials, cabinet-level Federal government of the United States, United States government intelligence and security official. The p ...
, described as the "intelligence czar" in 2004.


Rationale

Advantages cited for the creation of czar type posts include the ability to go outside of formal channels and find creative solutions for ''ad hoc'' problems, and an ability to involve a lot of government players in big issue decision-making, ultimately enabling a huge bureaucracy to move in a new direction. Problems can occur with getting all the parties to work together and with managing competing power centers. One explanation for use of the term states that while the American public revolts at terms like "king" and "dictator", associating them with
King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
or fascist figures of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the term "czar" is foreign, distant, and exotic enough to be acceptable. Czar positions are often created in times of perceived public crisis which results in the public being eager to see a strong figure making hard decisions that the existing political structure is unable to do. Americans of the era generally adopted exotic Asian words to denote those with great, and perhaps unchecked, power, with the examples " mogul" and "
tycoon A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...
" being used in business contexts.


Causes

The increase in czar positions over time may be because as the size and role of the executive branch governments has grown, so too has the difficulty of coordinating policy across multiple jurisdictions. Indeed, czar positions sometimes become important enough that they become permanent executive offices, such as the
Office of National Drug Control Policy The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is a component of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The director of the ONDCP, colloquially known as the drug czar, heads the office. "Drug czar" was a term first used ...
or the
United States Trade Representative The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government responsible for developing and promoting Foreign trade of the United States, United States ...
. Two legal scholars have also questioned whether Congress has contributed to the proliferation of czars. From 1939 to 1984, Congress had authorized the president to consolidate functions and agencies within the Executive branch, pursuant to the Reorganization Act, which minimized the president's administrative burden "of trying to coordinate disparate functions operating under equally disparate authorities." But Congress allowed this authority to expire at the end of President Reagan's first term, leading these scholars to conclude:
Absent reorganization authority, what was a president to do? The president cannot personally coordinate all disparate functions and agencies in the massive federal government. Yet, if a policy fails because of poor coordination, the president is held to account. So it is no coincidence that as the complexity of government machinery has grown, presidents have responded by increasing the number of assistants or "czars" to help with the management and coordination of the executive branch.


Criticism

The appointment of "czars" serving the executive branch has been a source of controversy through the years. As early as 1942, an editorial cartoon depicted "czar of prices"
Leon Henderson Leon Henderson (May 26, 1895 – October 19, 1986) was the administrator of the Office of Price Administration from 1941 to 1942. He also served as a member of several United States federal government agencies during World War II. Life and career ...
, "czar of production" Donald Nelson, and "czar of ships" Emory S. Land sharing a throne. In 2009, the non-profit government
watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watchdog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet U ...
organization
Taxpayers for Common Sense Taxpayers for Common Sense (TCS) is a nonpartisan federal budget watchdog organization based in Washington, D.C., in the United States. TCS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization; its 501(c)(4) affiliate is Taxpayers for Common Sense Action (TCS ...
reported "by our count there are at least 31 active Czars, giving the current administration more Czars than
Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...
had in its history." Critics who charge that czars are unconstitutional often ground their complaints in Article II, Section 2 of the
U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...
, which states the president may nominate "other public Ministers ... by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate." In this stance, a czar appointee is only legal if confirmed by the Senate; otherwise, they can not exist until they receive such consent. Based on their interpretation of the constitutional language, these critics argue that czars should be subject to
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
confirmation. The issue is mostly touted by conservatives and Republicans, and during 2009 grew into a staple of anti-
Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...
activism. Democratic Senator and Constitutional scholar
Robert Byrd Robert Carlyle Byrd (born Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr.; November 20, 1917 – June 28, 2010) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from West Virginia for over 51 years, from 1959 until his death in 2010. A Democratic Pa ...
had expressed concern as well, with Byrd writing to Obama that: "The rapid and easy accumulation of power by White House staff can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. At the worst, White House staff have taken direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials." Democratic Senators
Russ Feingold Russell Dana Feingold ( ; born March 2, 1953) is an American politician and lawyer who served as a United States Senate, United States Senator from Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, h ...
and
Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel Feinstein (; June 22, 1933 – September 29, 2023) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from California from 1992 until her death in 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as the 38th ...
both questioned whether there was adequate Senate oversight of czar-driven activities. Congressional Republicans alleged that "climate czar"
Carol Browner Carol Martha Browner (born December 16, 1955) is an American lawyer, environmentalist and businesswoman who served as director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. Brown ...
's access to the president had usurped power from other agencies. By September 2009, Representative
Jack Kingston John Heddens Kingston (born April 24, 1955) is an American businessman, lobbyist, and politician who served as U.S. representative for in southeast Georgia, serving from 1993 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party and was part of the ...
found 100 cosponsors for a proposed Czar Accountability and Reform Act of 2009, which sought to prohibit taxpayer-paid salaries to "any task force, council, or similar office which is established by or at the direction of the President and headed by an individual who has been inappropriately appointed to such position (on other than an interim basis), without the advice and consent of the Senate." The Obama administration largely downplayed the concerns, saying that he was doing just what many previous presidents had done. A White House spokesperson said, "The term 'czar' is largely a media creation to make jobs that have existed under multiple administrations sound more exciting. Every president since Nixon has hired smart and qualified people to coordinate between agencies and the White House." At October 2009 hearings before the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, constitutional experts asserted that there was nothing wrong with presidents appointing independent advisors, as long as their authority was exerted in practical, not legal, terms. These experts said that the precedent for "czar"-like positions had been established with the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. Meanwhile, following the September 2009 resignation of "green jobs czar"
Van Jones Anthony Kapel "Van" Jones (born September 20, 1968) is an American political analyst, media personality, lawyer, author, and civil rights advocate. He is a three-time ''New York Times'' bestselling author, a CNN host and contributor, and an Emm ...
, for statements made prior to assuming his position, radio and television commentator
Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
targeted several additional "czars" for increased scrutiny by his audience. The Jones case illustrated that czars for non-confirmation positions may not get as much vetting before being named as one whom an administration knows will have to face the Senate. However, the position itself may not have been that important;
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...
fellow Stephen Hess described Jones as a third-tier adviser reporting to a powerless committee. The historical term itself has come under criticism; in 2009, U.S. Representative
Paul Broun Paul Collins Broun Jr. (born May 14, 1946) is an American physician and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2007 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party and was a member of the Tea Party Caucus. Broun unsuccess ...
said, "We do not need and should not have czars. The last time I checked, only pre-Communist Russia had czars, and we are certainly not Russia." Prior to resigning, Van Jones himself rejected use of the term, preferring instead "green-jobs handyman". Indeed, the Obama administration as a whole tended to prefer not to use the "czar" term. One
Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...
veteran said, "I'm not fond of the term czar. It's a name with pejorative connotations hung on these people who are coordinators, facilitators, catalysts ... he Obama czars controversy ismuch ado about very little. Appointing individuals to serve as the focal point on some issues of presidential interest is a tested and ometimesvery effective way of dealing with such challenges." Resistance to the term has itself a long history; the Interstate Commerce Commissioner during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, Joseph B. Eastman, declared he was not a "Federal railroad czar" upon being appointed transportation coordinator. The need for czars itself brings a critique:
Steve Forbes Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr. (; born July 18, 1947) is an American publishing executive and politician who is the editor-in-chief of ''Forbes'', a business magazine. He is the son of longtime ''Forbes'' publisher Malcolm Forbes and the grandso ...
has said, "It underscores the inefficiency of government that you keep ... having people, hoping that maybe they will get something done that the massive government bureaucracy cannot." With many czars, the challenge of managing them grows, such as was lampooned by ''The Washington Post'''s 1942 remark after enumerating recent appointments that, "So far as we can determine, the galaxy of czars is now complete, unless the President should decide to appoint a czar over the czars." The position continued to be a subject of criticism, and in April 2011, as part of the 2011 federal spending agreement that averted a government shutdown, four czar positions were indeed eliminated.


Effectiveness

Scholars have said that it is not possible to make a universal judgment on the effectiveness of czars. The great strength of czars, their loyalty to the president and lack of other bureaucratic constituencies, can also be a cause of their weakness. While they have direct access to the president, they lack operational authority over governmental agencies and often have little or no budget line. As head of the
Office of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions involv ...
during the
George W. Bush administration George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following his narrow electoral college vict ...
,
Tom Ridge Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician and author who served in the Presidency of George W. Bush, George W. Bush administration as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2001 to 2003 and as the U ...
found that these reasons significantly limited his ability to influence policy. As " drug czar",
William Bennett William John Bennett (born July 31, 1943) is an American conservative politician and political commentator who served as the third United States secretary of education from 1985 to 1988 under President Ronald Reagan. He also held the post of d ...
also noticed that the lack of direct authority, inability to dispense grants, and relative small staff was a "potentially debilitating institutional weakness" that he needed to overcome. It is important for czars to have staff they have confidence in. When originally naming an "energy czar", President Nixon suggested that
William E. Simon William Edward Simon (November 27, 1927 – June 3, 2000) was an American businessman and philanthropist who served as the 63rd United States Secretary of the Treasury. He became the Secretary of the Treasury on May 9, 1974, during the Nixon adm ...
get staff assigned to him from all of the agencies involved in energy policy. Simon rejected this approach, knowing that those agencies would unload their civil service deadwood onto him; instead, Simon insisted that he also retain his existing position of
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury The deputy secretary of the treasury of the United States advises and assists the Secretary of the Treasury in the supervision and direction of the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury and its activities, and succ ...
and the staff there that he had trust in. The symbolism associated with a czar position be created in a perceived emergency can sometimes be effective in and of itself. During the
Y2K Y2K may refer to: * Y2K problem, a computer issue related to the year 2000 * Year 2K, the year 2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular cultu ...
run-up, John Koskinen of the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion could force agencies behind in preparation to defend themselves before the White House and cabinet agencies. Bennett found in the drug czar position that President
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
made extraordinary efforts to demonstrate that Bennett had his support, so much so that Bennett fared better bureaucratically than if he had held a regular Cabinet position. Bennett also found that the czar slot lent itself towards taking a "
bully pulpit A "bully pulpit" is a conspicuous position that provides an opportunity to speak out and be listened to. This term was coined by United States President Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), a ...
" approach. In general, the kind of strong authority that the czar position conveys is usually difficult to actually assemble in American political life; instead, the number of bureaucratic organizations engaged in factional disputes and battling for limited resources is just increased by adding the czar position. If a czar actually is strong and effective, then opposition to him or her rises from the governmental bodies which are losing power, and
civil libertarian Civil libertarianism is a strain of political thought that supports civil liberties and rights, or which emphasizes the supremacy of individual rights and personal freedoms over and against any kind of authority (such as a state, a corporat ...
s will often publicly object as well.


United Kingdom

In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, the term is more loosely used to refer to high-profile appointments who devote their skills to one particular area. The term was widely used in the
British media There are several different types of mass media in the United Kingdom: television, radio, newspapers, magazines and websites. The United Kingdom is known for its large music industry, along with its new and upcoming artists. The country also has ...
to refer to Gordon Brown’s 2009 appointment of
Alan Sugar Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar (born 24 March 1947) is a British business magnate, media personality, author, politician, and political adviser. Sugar began what would later become his largest business venture, consumer electronics company A ...
to the newly created post of Enterprise Champion, which was dubbed "Enterprise Tsar" by many news agencies. When David Cameron appointed Sugar - who had been ennobled as a Lord in 2009 - in 2016, the term "Enterprise Tsar" was officially used by the government. The nature of the 2009 appointment, and the usage of the term "tsar" did receive criticism however, with columnist Tracy Corrigan in ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...
'' suggesting it set a precedent for the English model
Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
to be made the "women’s issues tsarina", with Conservative life peer Lord Hunt suggesting he could already be a "fallen tsar". In 2013, the number and nature of some appointments was criticised, as both the Guardian and Independent cited nearly 300 "tsar" appointments made between 1997 and 2013.


See also

*
List of U.S. executive branch czars In the United States, Czar (political term), the informal term "czar" (or, less often, "tsar") is employed in media and popular usage to refer to high-level Federal government of the United_States#Executive branch, executive-branch officials who o ...
*
List of positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation This is a list of positions filled by presidential appointment with Senate confirmation. Under the Appointments Clause of the United States Constitution and law of the United States, certain Federal government of the United States, federal posit ...
* Politics of the United States during World War II * Presidency of Barack Obama: Notable non-Cabinet positions


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Czar (U.S. Political Term) Executive branch of the government of the United States Political terminology of the United States Political terminology in the United Kingdom