The National Association of Manufacturers: A Study in Business Leadership, 1885-1914. Steigerwalt A. K.. University of Michigan Press, Grand Rapids,  1964. Pp. x + 220. Illust. $8.50.

A commentary on Alan V. Deardorff and Robert M. Stern, University of Michigan, "Issues of Manufactures Liberalization and Administered Protection." Christopher Wenk is Director of International Trade Policy at the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which is the U.S. largest industry trade association, representing small and large manufacturers in every industrial sector and in all 50 states. Wenk advocates on behalf of the NAM's members on international trade issues with the Administration and U.S. Congress and works with NAM policy organizations to formulate positions on trade issues and manages industry group coalitions on behalf of the NAM, including the WTO Action Group and the Zero Tariff Coalition. Before joining the NAM, Wenk spent more than five years working on Capitol Hill with the House Small Business Committee, Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH) and Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI), a member of the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee.

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The National Association of Manufacturers, 1895-1914: A Study in Business Leadership

Journal of American History ◽

10.2307/1888031 ◽

1964 ◽

Vol 51 (2) ◽

pp. 314

Author(s):

Irving Katz ◽

Albert K. Steigerwalt

Keyword(s):

National Association ◽

Business Leadership ◽

National Association Of Manufacturers

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A Changing Workforce

The Industrialists ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691167862.003.0010 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 210-236

Author(s):

Jennifer A. Delton

Keyword(s):

African Americans ◽

Affirmative Action ◽

Civil Rights ◽

Civil Rights Movement ◽

Equal Opportunity ◽

National Association ◽

Historically White ◽

Right To Work ◽

Workplace Rights ◽

National Association Of Manufacturers

This chapter examines the overlap between African Americans' demands for jobs and conservatives' push for “right to work” laws. While compulsory union dues were very different from unions' exclusion of blacks, both movements targeted historically white unions and shared a language of workplace “rights.” Conservative “right to work” activists adopted the tactics of the civil rights movement and aligned themselves with blacks against exclusionary unions. Although this strategy failed to attract African Americans, it called attention to unions' historic and ongoing racism in a way that eventually divided the labor–liberal coalition. This dynamic is key to understanding the National Association of Manufacturers' complicated support for civil rights, equal opportunity, and affirmative action.

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Introduction

The Industrialists ◽

10.23943/princeton/9780691167862.003.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Jennifer A. Delton

Keyword(s):

Nineteenth Century ◽

National Association ◽

Trade Association ◽

National Association Of Manufacturers ◽

Insight Into

This introductory chapter presents new understandings of manufacturing's main lobbyist and trade association, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). To understand how a conservative, anti-union organization can also be seen as progressive, the chapter first takes a look at its background as it considers how disorganized and chaotic US capitalism was at the end of the nineteenth century, when NAM was founded. In addition to examining NAM's role in organizing and globalizing capitalism, the chapter explores how it worked, who it represented, and how effective it was as a lobbyist. It also identifies NAM's many internal tensions. Furthermore, the chapter identifies the economic, ideological, and institutional concerns that drove NAM actors, as these offer insight into the evolving political taxonomies of our own day.

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