Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America [Hardcover]

Stuart D. Brandes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1997

In Warhogs, Stuart D. Brandes masterfully blends intellectual, economic, and military history into a fascinating discussion of a great moral question for generations of Americans: Can some individuals rightly profit during wartime while others sacrifice their lives to protect the nation? Drawing upon a wealth of manuscript sources, newspapers, contemporary periodicals, government reports, and other relevant literature, Brandes traces how in financing its wars each generation has endeavored to assemble resources equitably, to define the ethical questions of economic mobilization, and to manage economic sacrifice responsibly. He defines profiteering as price gouging, quality degradation, trading with the enemy, plunder, and fraud, among others, in order to examine the different guises of war profits and the degree to which they existed from one era to the next. Brandes traces the complex and evershifting issue of war profits across nearly the entire scope of American history through the four major military mobilizations (Revolution, Civil War, and World Wars I and II) and such smaller conflicts as the colonial wars, the Indian campaigns, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and the Spanish-American War. His even-handed discussion of wartime profit-seeking culminates with profiteering as a continuing cultural issue during the Cold War. No other study so thoroughly surveys the history of war profits in America. By examining this particular category of semi-legitimate wealth - not specifically illegal, but not entirely ethical - Brandes provides an in-depth analysis of American thought and culture as it has evolved over the past four centuries.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Its forbidding title notwithstanding, this is an objective look at the history of American military contracting and the profits derived from it from Colonial times through World War II (with a brief treatment of the early Cold War years). Brandes (history, Wisconsin-Rock Community Coll.) focuses on the politics of war profits and, to a lesser degree, on the social and intellectual responses of the public and of artists and writers. As a result, he does not provide any statistical analysis of the legitimacy of war profits and rarely argues either side of issues. He does drift into larger issues during some historical periods; the 1930s chapter, for example, is dominated by foreign policy and geopolitical issues related to isolationism. The book will nicely fill a gap in academic collections and is readable enough to interest larger public libraries.?Fritz Buckallew, Univ. of Central Oklahoma Lib., Edmond
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky (May 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813120209
• ISBN-13: 978-0813120201
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,980,758 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PROFITS IN TIME OF WAR, September 11, 2007

By 

James Lawson "Blinkered Thinker" (St. Cloud, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America (Hardcover)

Stuart D. Brandes has written an engaging book, "Warhogs, A History of War Profits in America." In this work, the retired history professor discusses inter alia profiteering, privateering, ransom, defense contracting, executive compensation, tax policy, and the role of government in providing for the needs of the nation's military especially in time of war. The book covers the period of US history from the colonial era to the conclusion of World War II.

Among the key figures discussed at length are: George Washington, who questioned both the virtue and patriotism of profiteers during the Revolution; Abraham Lincoln, whose administration wrestled with the rates that northern railroads were billing the government in transporting troops and materiel during the Civil War; Woodrow "He kept us out of war" Wilson who, three months after his reelection, went before Congress asking for a declaration of war; FDR and his long-serving Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr., together they struggled to pull the nation out of the Depression and later set in place policies and a bureaucratic apparatus to award military contracts to manufacturers while overseeing those same contractors in terms of: output capacity, plant building and expansion, quality of goods, the amount of profit deemed sufficient, tax rates, salaries, etc.

Evenhandedness is a hallmark of this book; those who might read this work expecting an anti-corporate jeremiad will be disappointed, as will those who believe that the federal government is mostly inept or worse. Rather, companies, businessmen, and government officials are either criticized or praised based on the evidence that Prof. Brandes cites; the documentation is ample and derived from government tax records, congressional committee testimony, memoirs, diaries, contemporaneous newspapers and periodicals, biographies, and the works of other historians. Some businessmen who were producing goods for the country's wartime while drawing exorbitant salaries are named, while others are noted for being dollar-a-year-men during armed conflict. Some companies boosted profits by reducing the quality of, for example, weaponry or uniforms. Army quartermasters did a commendable job in obtaining the necessary military supplies at a fair cost to taxpayers, although some personally profited financially--either legally or not. Some companies did not profit excessively during the war, yet benefited greatly during peacetime when the federal government looked to shed its unneeded assets. A short but poignant section of the book (p. 349) discusses FDR's misapprehension of tax policy and economics, despite the Harvard-educated president having majored in economics. And according to Secretary Morgenthau's presidential diary (p. 253), "The [p]resident doesn't devote more than two days a week to the war....I have been up to Shangri-La three times and he sits there playing with his stamps....[War Production Board Chairman Donald] Nelson never gets to see him." (Such a characterization of FDR by one of his ablest cabinet members would irk New Deal historian/hagiographer Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.)

The author states (p. 355): "No previous book that has come to my attention deals expressly with the topic presently considered." This reviewer concurs. It is a well-written book in part because such topics as amortization and facility depreciation are discussed without getting into the tall grass of accounting/tax law or causing the average reader's eyes to glaze over. Moral and ethical issues over war profits are raised without pedantry. Some will have some quibbles with portions of the book--quibbles too few and too minor to detract from it at all; isn't debate part of the fun of reading history? This reviewer looks forward to Dr. Brandes' future historical efforts.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Facts Forgotten When The State Charms Us Into Another War, June 27, 2008

By 

Mark Watterson "Author of Don't Weep for Me, ... - See all my reviews

This review is from: Warhogs: A History of War Profits in America (Hardcover)

Here it is in all it shamefull glory. This is a study about the enormous profits made by the military Industrial complex at war time. In a democracy, wars have nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with economics. The corporations who produce war goods make billions of dollars in the war and those corporations that don't make war goods make billions of dollars after the war when their markets are expanded into foreign lands. This, I'm sorry to say, is the backbone of capitalism. How are corporations to increase profits continuously, even after the home turf is saturated, if not by war? This is a common thread that runs throughout the book, Don't Weep for Me, America: How Democracy in America Became the Prince (While We Slept), as well.

"Warhogs" defines the "Merchants of Death" theory as "that defense contractors aided and abetted the outbreak of war in search of profit".

"Support for increased naval spending came from 'a combination of very wicked persons who stand to profit from a big navy'".

"...millionaire munitions executives were 'agitating' for a larger defense in search of profit".

And finally, "war...was the worst enemy of progress".

This book also contains the cold hard facts of just how much money the defense contractors profited.

So when you are contemplating the wisdom of the Iraq War, forget about "Democracy" and "Liberating the people", and "Removing the Evil Dictator". Instead consider the no-bid contracts given to Halliburton and other Cheney and Bush administration cronies. Because, unfortunately, war is all about profits and economics, and has nothing to do with...politics...