James A. Joseph is Professor Emeritus of the Practice of Public Policy at Duke University. Joseph served as the United States Ambassador to South Africa from 1996 to 2000, and as the Under Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior from 1977 to 1981. He was the President and CEO of the Council on Foundations, Vice President of the Cummins Engine Company, and served as Chaplain of the Claremont Colleges. He is the recipient of numerous honorary degrees and awards, including the Order of Good Hope, South Africa’s highest award to a citizen of a foreign country. Joseph is also the author of
The Carter Administration: Private Wants and Public Needs
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Published:August 2015
Nowhere is the interplay between private virtue and public values reflected more clearly than in the competing demands for the use of the resources of the earth. The move from a senior executive in business to undersecretary of the interior in the Carter administration was for Joseph an opportunity to help resolve largely ethical issues. This chapter is a behind-the-scenes look at how decisions are made in government and what ethical principles should apply. The debates about offshore leasing, the national obligation to Native Americans, the balance between environmental protection and economic development, the tension between oil drillers and fishermen and coal miners and park enthusiasts were just a few of the issues requiring both good policy analysis and transcendent moral principles.
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