Next, Project 87

Nine-year study focuses on the Constitution's Bicentennial

To Richard Morris, 73, a professor emeritus of history at Columbia, America's razzle-dazzle Bicentennial celebration was a disgrace. "We ended up with a lot of gimmickry, pageantry and tall ships--nothing to do with why the American Revolution was unique," charges Morris. His colleague, James MacGregor Burns, 59, a political scientist at Williams, enjoyed the display--"I rather liked the ships in New York harbor" --but agrees that the Revolution's deeper significance was insufficiently heralded.

The two professors, former presidents of the American Historical Association (Morris) and the American Political Science Association (Burns), decided to redress the historical slight. They dreamed up Project 87 to celebrate America's next Bicentennial, that of the Constitution's adoption, with a cerebral, nine-year program sponsored by the two scholarly associations and culminating on Sept. 17, 1987.

The three-phase project, under the direction of Donald Robinson, a Smith College political scientist, will focus initially on research into the Constitution and its evolution. Among possible topics:

> To what extent have bureaucrats become the primary policymakers?

> Is the system of accountability compromised when the Supreme Court, whose Justices are not elected, makes vital decisions about Government policy?

> Is the Chief Executive too powerful?

Morris and Burns argue that there has been a dearth of constitutional study over the past two decades. As a result, the nation had to pick "piecemeal" through the Constitution during Viet Nam and Watergate while debating issues like impeachment and executive privilege.

A second phase beginning in three years will seek to spice up high school and college government courses--now "parched and superficial," says Morris --often by using public TV innovatively. The final three-year stage will take the Constitution to the people, again using TV and town meeting-type discussions.

Both Morris and Burns stress that their project will be critical as well as contemplative. Says Morris: "When you compare the noblesse oblige of people like James Madison, John Jay and Thomas Jefferson with people we really don't have to name, it raises the question of whether a Constitution written by men with one set of values can still operate in the 20th century." Burns especially hopes that Project 87 will study the Constitution not from the traditional standpoint of what America can teach other countries but with a focus on what the U.S. can learn from them.

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