Abstract

The interwar period initiated a new era of strategic industrial planning in the United States. This period also witnessed the emergence of multiplant firms, which, akin to contemporary dynamics of globalization, spanned economically diverse regions. Using archives, legislation, and production data, I show how horizontal integration by national flour mills led otherwise laissez-faire executives to favor government intervention and the design of the Agriculture Adjustment Act. In particular, these firms provided political support for the development of the nation's first systematic export subsidy programs, the American Wheat Loans and the North Pacific Emergency Export Association. Rather than undermine barriers to trade, integrated national firms helped give otherwise isolated regional interests a voice in national policymaking.