Research Seminars

2024 - 2025 Series -- View Series PDF

• December 18, 2024: Richard John, “The Folklore of Thurman Arnold: Anti-Monopoly in the Shadow of War”

  Thurman Arnold’s tenure as head of the antitrust division at the U. S. Justice Department has long been regarded as a pivotal event in mid-twentieth-century U. S. government business relations. Most historical writing on this topic (eg Alan Brinkley, Ellis Hawley, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.) views it in relationship to the Democratic party’s failed attempt to restructure the U. S. political economy—a project struck down by the U. S. Supreme Court. That is, they treat it as a chapter in domestic politics. This paper, in contrast, locates Arnold’s tenure in its international context—with a particular focus on his critique of the cartelization of German business under the Nazi regime.