National Association of Manufacturers (U.S.)

The National Association of Manufacturers (N.A.M.) was organized in January 1895 as a political lobbying organization representing the interests of America's manufacturers who wanted to maintain a high protective tariff. By the beginning of the twentieth century, N.A.M. sought to curtail the power of organized labor and maintain the open shop. During the New Deal period and World War II, N.A.M. became a significant force in the Republican coalition seeking to decrease the growing role of the state in the American economy. After the war, N.A.M. favored lifting price controls on the American economy, abolising the Office of Price Administration (OPA), and actively lobbied for the passage of the Taft-Hartley Act. N.A.M. advertisements regarding these positions appeared nationally on the radio, and in newspapers and magazines. The ads advanced the positive aspects of the free enterprise system and attempted to dispel the belief that business made excessive profits.

From the description of Records of senior staff, 1922-1971. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 650303469

Founded in 1895, the National Association of Manufacturers is a voluntary association of American companies which strives to improve the freedom of opportunity and enterprise and advance a pro-growth and pro-manufacturing agenda. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

From the description of Records, 1946-1962. (Smith College). WorldCat record id: 51656827

Founded in 1895, the National Association of Manufacturers is a voluntary association of American companies which strives to improve the freedom of opportunity and enterprise and advance a pro growth and pro manufacturing agenda. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

From the guide to the National Association of Manufacturers, Women's Department Records, 1946-1962, (Sophia Smith Collection)

Vada Horsch (1906-1985) received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1928. In 1932 she was hired by the National Association of Manufacturers as an administrative assistant. She was promoted to assistant secretary in 1939 and held this position until her retirement in 1966. During these years Miss Horsch was one of the few women on N.A.M.'s executive staff. She served on the United International Affairs Council (1950-54), the Conference on National Organizations (1947-66), and on N.A.M.'s International Economic Affairs Department. She was also active in the Women's National Republican Club.

From the description of Vada Horsch historical collection, 1915-1962. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122397134

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) was organized in January of 1895 when approximately 600 manufacturers met in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the depression on the 1890s in order to formulate a prograp for economic recovery. The aim was to develop a strategy to protect American goods from foreign competition and promote trade expansion. During its early years NAM was largely controlled by representatives of small and medium sized firms in the Middle West and South. In its first decade, NAM focused on lobbying for a high protective tariff, government support for a canal across the Isthmus of Panama, and a federal Department of Commerce.

During the 1910s and 1920s, NAM was at the center of the Open Shop movement that was being organized in order to counter the successes of organized labor. In these years it played a leading role in lobbying state legislatures for uniform workmen's compensation laws that would limit employer liability for industrial accidents. In the 1930s, NAM became the focal point for the business community's opposition to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, and it organized sophisticated public relations campaigns to build support for the free enterprise system and defend an American business system that thought of itself as under attack. The National Industrial Information Council (NICC) was organized in 1934 for this purpose. During the late 1930s and 1940s, NAM worked for the repeal of the Wagner Act that had guaranteed labor the right to organize. This effort culminated in the 1948 passage of the Taft-Hartley Act.

With the Marshall Plan providing an opportunity, NAM played an important role in European postwar reconstruction. Working through the Anglo-American Council on Productivity, it helped to train thousands of British, French and Italian managers in American business practices. In the 1950s, NAM adapted its public relations efforts to the new medium of television when it launched its "Industry on Parade" series in 1953. During the next two decades, NAM continued its efforts to roll back the New Deal Order and later Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. With the election of Ronald Reagan to the presidency in 1980, NAM saww many of the positions it had long advocated become enacted into law.

From the description of Records, 1895-1990 (bulk 1930-1976). (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122355297