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Ann Aibor, MI 48106 Beyond the Broker State: Â History of the Federal Government’s Policies Toward Small Business, 1936-1961 DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Jonathan James Bean, B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1994 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Mansel G. Blackford ( ! r - Advisor William Childs Department of History K. Austin Ken- "Who is this small or independent businessman—the independent producer and the independent distributor? Why, he is an American institution. He is just as much a part of the life of every community as its church or schoolhouse. He knows when there is sickness in the neighborhood, when there is a wedding, a death, or a birth. He is local business with a heart, and often too much heart for his own good. I see this great humane and worthy institution, this bulwark of democratic Govemment-the small independent businessman." Millard E. Tydings, U.S. Senator (1938) Copyright by Jonathan James Bean 1994 To my loving wife, Alice. She kept my eyes on the prize, my nose to the grindstone, and my feet on the ground. 11 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My dissertation adviser. Professor Mansel G. Blackford, provided me with invaluable guidance and encouragement; I could not ask for a better mentor. Professor K. Austin Kerr first suggested the need for this study; and, in part, it springs from an essay he wrote on the history of small business in America. Thanks go to Professor William Childs for his comments and suggestions. I would also like to express my gratitude to my parents for encouraging me in my intellectual endeavors. Several organizations helped to finance the research and writing of this dissertation, including the John E. Rovensky Foundation, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, and the Harry S. Truman Library. The B.F. Goodrich Company made available its corporate records, which aided my study of the federal government’s antitrust policy. The archivists at the National Archives, and those at the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Lyndon B. Johnson presidential libraries helped me find the sources needed to complete this work. In particular, I thank Tab Lewis, Dwight Strandberg, and Dennis Bilger for their diligent efforts on my behalf. Ill VITA October 2, 1962 .......................................................... Bom - Burlington, Vermont 1984 ........................................................................ B.A., Saint Michael’s College, Winooski, Vermont 1985-1987 .................................................................. Loan Review Officer, Vermont Secondary Loan Market Winooski, Vermont 1987-1989 .................................................................. Registered Investment Adviser, Transamerica Financial Resources, Burlington, Vermont. 1989-1990 .................................................................. M.A., Department of History, University of Vermont, Burlington 1991-1992 .................................................................. Research Associate, Ohio State University, B.F. Goodrich History Project, Columbus, Ohio 1992-1994 .................................................................. Graduate Teaching Associate, Ohio State University, Columbus FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: History Studies in; Business History, with Professors Mansel Blackford and William Childs Modem U.S. History, with Professor K. Austin Kerr Early U.S. History, with Professor Neil Stout Russian and Soviet History, with Professor Allan Wildman IV LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1. Congressional Small Business Committee Members, 1940-1961 163 ACRONYMS ABA American Bankers Association AFTL American Fair Trade League CASBO Congress of American Small Business Organizations DCD Division of Contract Distribution DNC Democratic National Committee EPL Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library (Abilene, Kansas) FDRPL Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library (Hyde Park, New York) FTC Federal Trade Commission HSTPL Harry S. Truman Presidential Library (Independence, Missouri) JPS J. Penfield Seiberling Papers (Ohio Historical Society, Columbus) LBJPL Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library (Austin, Texas) NAITD National Association of Independent Tire Dealers NARD National Association of Retail Druggists NARG National Association of Retail Grocers NAM National Association of Manufacturers NDAC National Defense Advisory Coimcil NFIB National Federation of Independent Business NPA National Production Authority NRA National Recovery Administration NSBMA National Small Business Men’s Association NTDRA National Tire Dealers and Retreaders Association ODM Office of Defense Mobilization OPA Office of Price Administration OPM Office of Production Management RFC Reconstruction Finance Corporation RNC Republican National Committee RPM Resale price maintenance ("fair trade") SBA Small Business Administration SBANE Small Business Association of New England SDPA Small Defense Plants Administration SWPC Smaller War Plants Corporation USWGA United States Wholesale Grocers Association WPB War Production Board VI TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................ iii VITA ............................................................................................................................. iv LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................................... v ACRONYMS..................................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................ viii INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER PAGE I. The Robinson-Patman Act: "The Magna Charta of Small Business" 30 n. "Minnows Cannot Compete with Whales": The Politics of Small Business in the Tire Industry, 1936-1961 55 III. "Fair Trade": The Politics of Price Maintenance, 1936-1975 113 IV. Congressional Small Business Advocates: The People Behind the Politics 150 V. War and Peace: The Politics of Small Business in the 1940s 170 VI. The Small Defense Plants Administration and The Creation of the Small Business Administration, 1951-1953 224 VII. The Small Business Administration: "Push-and-Pull" Politics, 1953-1961 252 CONCLUSION 290 BIBLIOGRAPHY 308 vii Beyond the Broker State: A History of the Federal Government’s Policies Toward Small Business, 1936-1961 By Jonathan James Bean, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University, 1994 Professor Mansel G. Blackford, Advisor This dissertation examines the federal government’s policies toward small business between 1936 and 1961. These policies varied over time. During the Great Depression, congressional concern with the fate of small business resulted in the passage of anti-chain store legislation, including the Robinson-Patman Act (1936) and the Miller-Tydings "Fair Trade" Act (1937). Later, Congress created Small Business Committees (1940-41), and temporary small business agencies during World War II and the Korean War. Finally, during President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s second term. Congress created a permanent Small Business Administration (SBA). Congressional champions of small business embraced an ideology that had its roots in Jeffersonian republicanism. Like Jefferson, they believed that a widespread distribution of wealth ensured the survival of democracy. In their view, a propertied middle class provided the social basis