CED: Tycoon Trap?

For a long time—indeed, since its founding in 1942—the Committee for Economic Development has been turning out reports, studies, and statements some of which have had little to do with advocacy of the free-enterprise system. And yet the Trustees of CED include almost two hundred of the chairmen and presidents of America’s most glittering corporate enterprises. The question has always been this: Do these tycoons really believe what CED is saying, or have they been hoodwinked? Let’s look at a recent episode in CED’s history.

On January 23, 1959 the Research and Policy Committee of CED passed a resolution calling for an independent study of labor policies. At the May meeting the resolution was confirmed by the full Board of Trustees. After the approval of the Trustees, the CED staff selected the members of the “independent study group”: Clark Kerr, president of the University of California; David Cole, a lawyer and labor arbiter; professors Douglass Brown and Robert Solow of MIT; professors John Dunlop and William Elliott of Harvard; professor Albert Rees of Chicago; professor Philip Taft of Brown; professor George Taylor of the Wharton School of Commerce.

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William F. Rickenbacker

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For a long time—indeed, since its founding in 1942—the Committee for Economic Development has been turning out reports, studies, and statements some of which have had little to do with advocacy of the free-enterprise system. And yet the Trustees of CED include almost two hundred of the chairmen and presidents of America’s most glittering corporate enterprises. The question has always been this: Do these tycoons really believe what CED is saying, or have they been hoodwinked? Let’s look at a recent episode in CED’s history.

On January 23, 1959 the Research and Policy Committee of CED passed a resolution calling for an independent study of labor policies. At the May meeting the resolution was confirmed by the full Board of Trustees. After the approval of the Trustees, the CED staff selected the members of the “independent study group”: Clark Kerr, president of the University of California; David Cole, a lawyer and labor arbiter; professors Douglass Brown and Robert Solow of MIT; professors John Dunlop and William Elliott of Harvard; professor Albert Rees of Chicago; professor Philip Taft of Brown; professor George Taylor of the Wharton School of Commerce.