Depression and War: The Myth Of Laissez-Faire in American History, Part IV

on scientific war research and distributed among some 2,000 corporations; of that amount, over $400 million went to ten companies.⁸ As can be expected during wartime, as Foner indicates, the "relationship between the federal government and big business changed dramatically from the days of the second New Deal, as corporate executives flooded into federal agencies concerned with war production." With all of the positive economic outcomes spurred by the war, this did much to "resurrect the reputation of business and businessmean, which had reached a low ebb during the Depression," and the rhetoric of laissez-faire would re-emerge once again, much through the introduction by the conservatives of a fifth freedom: Freedom of Enterprise.⁹

With the war coming to end in 1945, the war industry would remain intact. The new Cold War would be invoked to justify continued burgeoning military budgets, further bolstered by the coming of the wars in Korea and Vietnam. As America entered into the 1950s and the modern era, the rhetoric of economic freedom and laissez-faire would continue to be maintained in public discourse, with loyalty to its historical roots also unbroken. The principle of laissez-faire historically has only gone as far as the interests of those supporting it would permit, allowing for government intervention when convenient and demanding its absence otherwise. A close look at American history, however, reveals a stunning government activism in the economy. Laissez-faire as a practice has never existed in the United States.

References

¹Johnson, Paul. A History of the American People. New York: Harper-Perennial, 1998.

²Foner, Eric. The Story of American Freedom. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1998

³Ibid., p. 195-96

⁴See Johnson, A History of the American People, and Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States, 4th ed. New York: Harper-Perennial,1999

⁵Roberts, Paul M. Review Text in United States History, 2nd ed, New York: Amsco School Publications, 1989

⁶Foner, The Story of American Freedom, p. 201

⁷Murolo, Prascilla, and Chitty, A.B. From the Folks Who Brought You the Weekend, New York: The New Press, 2001; See also Foner, The Story of American Freedom

⁸Catton, Bruce. The War Lords of Washington, New York: Harcourt Brace, 1948

⁹Foner, Story of American Freedom, p. 229

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic