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This study chronicles the unique relationship between the Federal government and the American multinational corporation, integrating it into the mainstream of American political history. It is a record of continuous adjustment on the part of both parties as each side navigated the unchartered waters of this unconventional partnership. What makes it so relevant historically is that while the Federal government was adjusting to its postwar global responsibilities, corporate America in its multinational dimension was taking on new roles which redefined the international political economy. It involved international oil companies impacting our relations with the volatile Middle East, an economic Watergate of global dimensions, and an unresolved debate on public versus private responsibilities toward the Third World and its multiple economic and social problems. Objectively presented,
America and the Multinational Corporation provides the historical context for tracking the various presidential perspectives from Truman to Bush as well as the various congressional initiatives to redefine business-government relations in terms of corporate America's most aggressive offspring--the multinational.
Professor Reardon moves beyond the initial assessments of the multinational corporation vis-a-vis the Federal government, refusing to view it as a threat to the continued survival of the nation-state or as a force that the Federal government must tame at all cost. Rather, the partnership is a complex and continuously evolving relationship that may well be acquiring a new configuration as the world's economy becomes global rather than international. His study will be of interest to all students of contemporary American history as well as scholars in international political economy.
List of contents
Contents
Preface
Introduction
The Political Context: 1890-1939
World War II: The Genesis of the Partnership
The Postwar Years: 1946-1959
The Changing Global Economy in the Turbulent `60s
Emergence of an International Economic Policy: 1968-1973
Congress and the Shift to a More Critical Attitude: 1973-1974
The "Second Half of Watergate": 1974-1978
A New Tolerance and the Fading of the Partnership: The Years after 1977
Select Bibliography
Index
About the author
JOHN J. REARDON is Professor of History at Loyola University in Chicago. He is the author of
Edmund Randolph: A Biography (1974) and
Peyton Randolph 1721-1775: One Who Presided (1982).
