Don Devine

“Ronald Reagan’s Constitutional Solution”

President Reagan’s “Terrible Swift Sword of Civil Service” Shows Us The Way Back Through the U.S. Constitution

Donald Devine is senior scholar at The Fund for American Studies in Washington, D.C. He served as President Ronald Reagan’s civil service director during the president’s first term in office. During that time, the Washington Post labeled him “Reagan’s Terrible Swift Sword of the Civil Service” for cutting bureaucrats and reducing billions in spending. He is a columnist appearing regularly in The American Conservative, Newsmax and Liberty Law Blog and is the author of eight books, including his most recent America’s Way Back: Reclaiming Freedom, Tradition and Constitution.

Before and after his government service, Devine was an academic, teaching 14 years as associate professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland and for a decade as a professor of Western civilization at Bellevue University. Devine served as an advisor to Reagan from 1976 to 1985, to Sen. Bob Dole from 1988-1996 and to Steve Forbes from 1998-2000.

Today, Devine writes and travels the country teaching college students and speaking to groups about reviving the Constitution and what Reagan called the secret of its success: the way it harmonized freedom and tradition in its fragile balance called federalism.