Charles Goodsell

Charles True Goodsell (July 23, 1932 – November 24, 2024) was an American academic and writer who was Professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech's Center for Public Administration and Policy. He was perhaps best known for his volume The Case for Bureaucracy, now in its 4th edition.

Goodsell was a co-author of the Blacksburg Manifesto, written with Gary Wamsley, Robert Bacher, Philip Kronenberg, John Rohr, Camilla Stivers, Orion White, and James Wolf – all of whom were at Virginia Tech during the 1980s. In 1994, Goodsell was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.

Early life and education Charles T. Goodsell was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on July 23, 1932. He is the son of former Kalamazoo College President Charles Goodsell and Frances Comee Goodsell. Goodsell earned his BA degree at Kalamazoo College in 1954. After graduating, Goodsell enlisted in the United States Army and served from 1954 to 1956. Goodsell then obtained his PhD at Harvard University where he was a student of V. O. Key, Jr.

Author In The Case for Bureaucracy: A Public Administration Polemic, Charles Goodsell takes the position that the generally disparaging view of bureaucracy is unwarranted, and that the "quality of public service in the United states is vastly underrated". Originally published in 1983, it is Goodsell's best known work. Intended to be a rebuttal to the popular notion of bureaucracy as a callous, oppressive, and dysfunctional machine, it has been the recipient of much praise within the field of public administration. Since its original release, there have been 3 subsequent editions, with the 4th edition being released in December 2003.

In Goodsell's 2011 book, Mission Mystique: Belief Systems in Public Agencies, he examines six United States public agencies, including the US National Park Service, the US National Weather Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Peace Corps, among others.

In The American statehouse: Interpreting democracy's temples, Goodsell reviews all fifty United States’ capitals and their buildings. He uses three concepts to interpret government architecture in the social sense: the search for political values in the buildings, the effects of the building on behavior, and the impression the buildings make on society. Additionally, all of the photographs used in the book were taken by Goodsell.