Uneasy Partners: Big Business in American Politics, 1945-1990 (The American Moment)

This text surveys the close ties that have formed between big business and government in the period from World War II to the present. McQuaid explains that government needs business to make and implement key economic and business-related decisions. Business needs government to gain advantages over labour and markets. The defining characteristics of this business-government relationship form the focal point for each of this book's chapters. The author first examines the 1945-60 transition period, discussing Eisenhower's domestic policies, foreign aid and the oil market. He explores the rapid expansion of government under the Democratic administrations of the 1960s and discusses the Republican retrenchment and the Reagan administration's pro-business agenda in the 1980s. Finally, he assesses the legacy of the Reagan policies and evaluates the current US position in the world economy.