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UNITVERISTY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara The Price of Prosperity: Inflation and the Limits of the New Deal Order A Dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History by Samir Sonti Committee in charge: Professor Nelson Lichtenstein, Chair Professor Mary O. Furner Professor Alice O’Connor Professor Salim Yaqub Professor Kate McDonald March 2017 The dissertation of Samir Sonti is approved. __________________________________________ Kate McDonald __________________________________________ Salim Yaqub __________________________________________ Alice O’Connor __________________________________________ Mary Furner __________________________________________ Nelson Lichtenstein, Committee Chair September 2016 The Price of Prosperity: Inflation and the Limits of the New Deal Order Copyright © 2017 by Samir Sonti iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dedicated to Jayashree Sonti and Nagesh Sonti Writing a dissertation is at once a solitary and a collective process. Although only my name appears on the title page, and in spite of the countless hours I spent alone while producing draft after draft, I could not have accomplished this on my own. For one, this project would not have been possible without the generous support I received from a number of institutions: The Washington Center for Equitable Growth; the Dirksen Center; the UC Group in Economic History Research; UCSB History Associates; and the UCSB Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy all provided grants and fellowships that enabled me to travel to archives and complete the research on which this project is based. And the staff at those archives – too many to name all – deserve special recognition. Historians depend upon archives, and archives depend upon archivists. They are the unsung heroes without whom there would be no hope of recovering the past. A few lines in an acknowledgements section could never do them justice. The same goes for the excellent staff at the Davidson Library at UCSB. The University of California, Santa Barbara, a part of one of the great public higher education systems in the world, provided an ideal setting in which to read, write, and think. This was owing to more than the extraordinary beauty of the place (though that of course did not hurt). While the University of California system has been forced into retrenchment in recent years, and although its future as an accessible place of learning is very much in question due to the political right’s relentless attacks, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to interact with the very diverse student body that still manages to pass through it. The UCSB Department of History was a particularly supportive and congenial home, iv providing me with the funding needed to make ends meet while I embarked on an intellectual journey of precious little marketable value as well as with the faculty and colleagues that made that journey such a pleasure. The list of individuals associated with the History Department who aided me along the way is long, but I would be remiss if I did not single out one for special credit: Darcy Ritzau, the longtime graduate program coordinator, made me feel at home from the moment I arrived in California, and continued to bend over backwards – often on very short notice – to help me navigate all the administrative hurdles involved in this process. Many institutions and individuals made this dissertation possible, but a smaller number helped to make it what it is. I could not have asked for a more supportive and attentive dissertation committee. Kate McDonald and Salim Yaqub urged me to think about the politics and policies I was studying in the broadest possible context, and made me a less parochial (if not quite global) historian in the process. Alice O’Connor challenged me to consider political economy in a more expansive way than I had, and got me reflecting on the myriad ways an issue like inflation can ramify across the social world. She also provided some of the most incisive comments on drafts one could hope to receive, and left me a better writer for it. Mary Furner taught me how to think historically about the production of knowledge, something that has and will continue to serve me well beyond the academy. Her faith in my work provided me with the confidence to pursue this challenging subject, and I left every conversation with her (which were many, thanks to her remarkable generosity) excited and with a sense of purpose. Few graduate students are lucky to have so enthusiastic and supportive a mentor. v I had more than one. Nelson Lichtenstein is the reason I wanted to study labor history, he is the reason I moved across the country to attend UCSB, and he continues to stand in my mind as the model of the engaged scholar. During our first conversation he told me that his goal was to train labor intellectuals, and he held true to his word. Even has he read and commented extensively on every single thing I wrote, usually within hours, and directed all manner of resources and professional opportunities my way, it was clear all along that he was working with me to become more than just an academic. It was fitting indeed that we met to discuss revisions to the last chapter I completed on a picket line. And his support was more than intellectual. From the outset, Nelson and Eileen Boris welcomed me into their lives, providing me with a home away from home that made adjusting to this foreign land on the Pacific so easy. Nelson started as a mentor, but he became a comrade and a friend. And it really was the comradeships and friendships that I formed that have made this experience so marvelous. Kristoffer Smemo, Joe Figliulo-Rosswurm, and Andrew Elrod read and provided valuable feedback on various chapters, even when their plates were full. Cody Stephens and Jackson Warkentin were the best officemates, full stop. All of them also provided personal support in so many other ways, as did Dave Baillargeon, Heather Berg, Nivedita Bhushan, Sasha Coles, Jesse Halvorsen, Andi Kao, Chris Keggeris, Jessica Marter- Kenyon, Eric Massie, Will Murphey, Morag Murphey, Kurt Newman, Tim Paulson, Caitlin Rathe, Alex Standen, Brian Tyrell, Gabriel Winant, and Kali Yamboliev. Those involved with the UAW 2865 – especially Rob Ackermann, Aviva Milner-Brage, and Jesse Halvorsen – did the hard work to ensure that we could focus on our academic worth with a measure of security. vi Adolph Reed, my undergraduate mentor turned dear comrade and friend is the reason I came to understand the importance of the labor movement, both past and present, to begin with. Outside of my immediate family, he has been the most important influence in my life, and I will always consider it the greatest blessing that I stumbled into his African American politics course as an uninformed twenty-year-old. Over the years, Adolph has introduced me to a world I doubt I would have found on my own, and while many within it have become comrades in their own right, a few deserve special mention: Eric Augenbran, Howard Botwinick, Merlin Chowkwanyun, Sam Gindin, and Judith Stein. Finally, and above all, there is my family. My sister, Smita Sonti, will insist that I might not be able to read were it not for her. That is probably true, and it is the least of the things that I owe her for. Mark Ruggiero is a brother-in-law who has become a brother, as well as one of my closest friends. I love to travel, no doubt, but my top vacation destination remains Portland, Maine, where I can hang out with the two of them, Nikhil, and Amir. The contributions made by my grandmother, Ammama, who played an instrumental role in raising me, could hardly be measured. I simply would not be who I am without her. And my parents – Jayashree Sonti and Nagesh Sonti. They instilled the values that inspired what I do, and they provided the love and support that allowed me to do it. They are my greatest inspiration, and to them this dissertation is dedicated. vii SHORT VITA OF SAMIR SONTI MARCH 2017 EDUCATION University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA (2012-) • PhD Candidate, Department of History, expected September 2016 • MA, Department of History, 2014 Cornell University, Ithaca, NY (2011-12) • PhD Student, Department of Government University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (2005-09) • Wharton School: B.S. in Economics, Cum Laude • College of Arts and Sciences: B.A. in Political Science, with Distinction, Cum Laude PUBLICATIONS “Conflict or Consensus: The Steel Strike of 1959 and the Anatomy of the New Deal Order,” with Kristoffer Smemo and Gabriel Winant. Forthcoming in Critical Historical Studies. FELLOSHIPS AND AWARDS 2015 Washington Center for Equitable Growth Grant for Young Scholars Dirksen Congressional Research Grant Richard K. Mayberry Prize for Overall Scholarly Excellence, Department of History, UCSB UCSB History Associates Graduate Fellowship 2014 Summer Institute on Inequality Pre-Dissertation Fellow, Social Science and Policy Forum, University of Pennsylvania Frank and Amanda Front Award for Best Paper in Historical Political Economy, UCSB Department of History William H. Ellison Prize for Best Graduate Seminar Paper, UCSB Department of History 2013 William H. Ellison Prize for Best Graduate Seminar Paper viii University of California Group in Economic History Research Fellowship TEACHING EXPERIENCE Instructor of Record, Department of History, University of California, Santa Barbara (2015-) • History 167Q: Labor Studies Research Seminar (Spring 2016) • History 174B: Wealth