Capital Gains: Business and Politics in Twentieth-Century America (Hagley Perspectives on Business and Culture)

Recent events--the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and efforts to increase the minimum wage, among others--have driven a tremendous surge of interest in the political power of business. Capital Gains collects some of the most innovative new work in the field. The chapters explore the influence of business on American politics in the twentieth century at the federal, state, and municipal levels. From corporate spending on city governments in the 1920s to business support for public universities in the postwar period, and from business opposition to the Vietnam War to the corporate embrace of civil rights, the contributors reveal an often surprising portrait of the nation's economic elite. Contrary to popular mythology, business leaders have not always been libertarian or rigidly devoted to market fundamentalism. Before, during, and after the New Deal, important parts of the business world sought instead to try to shape what the state could accomplish and to make sure that government grew in ways that were favorable to them. Appealing to historians working in the fields of business history, political history, and the history of capitalism, these essays highlight the causes, character, and consequences of business activism and underscore the centrality of business to any full understanding of the politics of the twentieth century--and today. Contributors Daniel Amsterdam, Brent Cebul, Jennifer Delton, Tami Friedman, Eric Hintz, Richard R. John, Pamela Walker Laird, Kim Phillips-Fein, Laura Phillips Sawyer, Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, Eric Smith, Jason Scott Smith, Mark R. Wilson.

Recent events—the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and efforts to increase the minimum wage, among others—have driven a tremendous surge of interest in the political power of business. Capital Gains collects some of the most innovative new work in the field. The chapters explore the influence of business on American politics in the twentieth century at the federal, state, and municipal levels. From corporate spending on city governments in the 1920s to business support for public universities in the postwar period, and from business opposition to the Vietnam War to the corporate embrace of civil rights, the contributors reveal an often surprising portrait of the nation's economic elite.

Contrary to popular mythology, business leaders have not always been libertarian or rigidly devoted to market fundamentalism. Before, during, and after the New Deal, important parts of the business world sought instead to try to shape what the state could accomplish and to make sure that government grew in ways that were favorable to them. Appealing to historians working in the fields of business history, political history, and the history of capitalism, these essays highlight the causes, character, and consequences of business activism and underscore the centrality of business to any full understanding of the politics of the twentieth century—and today.

Contributors: Daniel Amsterdam, Brent Cebul, Jennifer Delton, Tami Friedman, Eric Hintz, Richard R. John, Pamela Walker Laird, Kim Phillips-Fein, Laura Phillips Sawyer, Elizabeth Tandy Shermer, Eric Smith, Jason Scott Smith, Mark R. Wilson.

Recent events -- the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the Occupy Wall Street movement, and efforts to increase the minimum wage, among others -- have driven a tremendous surge of interest in the political power of business. Capital Gains collects some of the most innovative new work in the field. The chapters explore the influence of business on American politics in the twentieth century at the federal, state, and municipal levels. From corporate spending on city governments in the 1920s to business support for public universities in the postwar period, and from business opposition to the Vietnam War to the corporate embrace of civil rights, the contributors reveal an often surprising portrait of the nation's economic elite. Contrary to popular mythology, business leaders have not always been libertarian or rigidly devoted to market fundamentalism. Before, during, and after the New Deal, important parts of the business world sought instead to try to shape what the state could accomplish and to make sure that government grew in ways that were favorable to them. Appealing to historians working in the fields of business history, political history, and the history of capitalism, these essays highlight the causes, character, and consequences of business activism and underscore the centrality of business to any full understanding of the politics of the twentieth century -- and today. -- Provided by publisher Contents Preface Introduction. Adversarial Relations? Business and Politics in Twentieth- Century America PART I. THE PROGRESSIVE ERA AND THE 1920S Chapter 1. Trade Associations, State Building, and the Sherman Act: Th e U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 1912–25 Chapter 2. Toward a Civic Welfare State: Business and City Building in the 1920s PART II. THE NEW DEAL AND THE SECOND WORLD WAR Chapter 3. Th e “Mono poly” Hearings, Th eir Critics, and the Limits of Patent Reform in the New Deal Chapter 4. Farewell to Progressivism: Th e Second World War and the Privatization of the “Military- Industrial Complex” Chapter 5. Beyond the New Deal: Thomas K. McCraw and the Political Economy of Capitalism PART III. THE POSTWAR ERA: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Chapter 6. “Free Enterprise” or Federal Aid? Th e Business Response to Economic Restructuring in the Long 1950s Chapter 7. “They Were the Moving Spirits”: Business and Supply- Side Liberalism in the Postwar South Chapter 8. A Fraught Partnership: Business and the Public University Since the Second World War PART IV. THE POSTWAR ERA: LIBERALISM AND ITS CRITICS Chapter 9. The Triumph of Social Responsibility in the National Association of Manufacturers in the 1950s Chapter 10. “What Would Peace in Vietnam Mean for You as an Investor?” Business Executives and the Antiwar Movement, 1967–75 Chapter 11. Entangled: Civil Rights in Corporate Amer i ca Since 1964 Notes Contributors Index Appealing to historians working in the fields of business history, political history, and the history of capitalism, Capital Gains highlights the causes, character, and consequences of business activism and underscores the centrality of business to any full understanding of the politics of the twentieth century-and today