The Committee for Economic Development,Foreign Trade and the Rise of American Corporate Liberalism,1942–8

Abstract

This article shows how the Committee for Economic Development rose to prominence after the Second World War as a champion of American economic internationalism and came to embody the business-government symbiosis that featured so highly in framing American political economy thereafter. Through a detailed analysis of previously unpublished documents the complex and controversial journey of the CED from reluctant student to enthusiastic leader of economic internationalism is documented. It is revealed that through a combination of government prodding, rigid corporate liberal ideals and altered postwar conditions the CED finished the war offering policy prescriptions that balanced free-market capitalism with minimal state involvement in a way that suited American economic needs. This account of the CED and its attitude to foreign trade and high employment is a revealing window into the minds of the corporate business elite as it struggled to comprehend the unprecedented challenges and opportunities that faced the country at this pivotal juncture in history.