Word: gellhorn
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...first of three Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures, Walter Gellhorn, a member of the Law Faculty at Columbia University for 33 years, said that the U.S. needs a trained professional critic of the government. Such a critic might be similar to the Swedish ombudsman...
...ombudsman handles complaints of citizens abused by the federal bureaucracy. The office was invented by the Swedes in 1809. Today, the Swedish ombudsman and his staff handle 1300 complaints a year, a number which Gellhorn called remarkably small. The complaints are usually petty ones, but they can often lead to the complete overhauling of federal agencies...
...present American system of handling public complaints is simply inadequate, Gellhorn said...
...just because there is a need for reform, Gellhorn explained does not mean that the U.S. should definitely establish an office like the ombudsman. Some critical organ is necessary, he asserted, but this country has its own special problems...
...Gellhorn will discuss these problems and the American alternative to the ombudsman in his second lecture at 8 p.m. tomorrow in Austin Hall...