This study deals with the manner in which the nation's telecommunications resources have been managed. The first section, which traces the history of telecommunications management from the mid-1800s through the Lyndon Johnson administration, reveals the way in which telecommunications management has been governed by competing priorities. The second section discusses telecommunications management in the Nixon era; recounts events culminating in Nixon's establishment in 1970 of the Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP); shows how the controversial activities of the OTP led to charges that it was highly politicized, interfered with functions of the Federal Communications Commission and with public broadcasting, and threatened freedom of the press; and discusses recommendations for telecommunications management made after Nixon's resignation. The final section of the study summarizes assessments of the OTP's performance, indicates problems involved in designing a program for telecommunications management, and describes the reorganization plan submitted in 1977 by President Carter. (GW)