1 We Hold These Truths (ACES pamphlet), 1953, box 27 E, Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Papers, Historical Collections and Labor Archives (hereafter ACLA), Library, Pattee Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa.; Reading Labor Advocate, May 1, 1953.Google Scholar

2 Fones-Wolf, Elizabeth Selling Free Enterprise: The Business Assault on Labor and Liberalism, 1945–60 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994); Tedlow, Richard S. and Porter, Glenn Keeping the Corporate Image: Public Relations and Business, 1900–1950 (Stanford: Jai Press-Incorporated, 1979); Harris, Howell John The Right to Manage: Industrial Relations Policies of American Business in the 1940s (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1982); Carey, Alex and Lohery, Andrew Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda Versus Freedom and Liberty (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997).Google Scholar

3 Bowles, Samuel and Gintis, Herbert Schooling in Capitalist America: Educational Reform and the Contradictions of Economic Life (New York: Basic Books, 1976); Spring, Joel and Illich, Ivan Education and the Rise of the Corporate State (Boston: Beacon Press, 1973); Spring, Joel The American School, 1642–1996 (New York: McGraw Hill Companies, 1996); Tyack, David Lowe, Robert and Hansot, Elisabeth Public Schools in Hard Times: The Great Depression and Recent Years (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984); Business and the Reshaping of Public Education (Washington D.C.: National Education Association, 1990).Google Scholar

4 There are only a handful of studies that discuss this topic, including Rippa, S. Alexander Education in a Free Society: An American History (New York & London: Longman, 1984), chap. 10; Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise, chap. 7; Moore, Colleen Ann “The National Association of Manufacturers: The Voice of Industry and the Free Enterprise Campaign in the Schools, 1929–1949,” (Ph.D diss, University of Akron, 1985).Google Scholar

5 Wrigley, Julia Class Politics and Public Schools: Chicago 1900–1950 (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1982); Katznelson, Ira and Weir, Margaret Schooling For All: Class, Race, and the Decline of the Democratic Ideal (New York: Basic Books, 1985); Reese, William J. “‘Partisans of the Proletariat': The Socialist Working Class and the Milwaukee Schools, 1890–1920,” History of Education Quarterly 21 (Spring 1981): 3–50.Google Scholar

6 One work that examines labor's struggle against business’ involvement in the public schools is Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise; Katznelson and Weir, Schooling for All, 125–26.Google Scholar

7 Geis, Gilbert “The NAM in the Schools,“ Progressive Magazine, March 1950, box 177, Michigan AFL-CIO Papers, ALUA; Kerckhoff, Alan “Big Business and the Public Schools,” Journal of General Education 9 (January 1956): 73–75.Google Scholar

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9 “An Integrated Public Relations Program for the National Association of Manufacturers, Confidential Report,” Jan. 14, 1946, box 110, series 1, acc. 1411, National Association of Manufacturers Records, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware (hereafter NAM); Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise, 201.Google Scholar

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12 McKee, C. W. and Moulton, H. G. A Survey of Economic Education (Washington D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1951), 24–39; Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise, 197–210; On anti-communism and the public schools see among others: Mitchell, Morris “The Battle for Free Schools: Fever Spots in American Education,” Nation, Oct. 27, 1951, 344–47; Nelson, Jack and Roberts, Gene Jr., The Censors and the Schools (Westport: Greenwood Publishing Group Inc., 1977); Raywid, Mary Anne The Ax-Grinders: Critics of Our Public Schools (New York: Macmillan, 1963); Spring, Joel Images of American Life: A History of Ideological Management in Schools, Movies, Radio and Television (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), 166–180.Google Scholar

13 Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise, 201–02; “BIE Day,” Trends in Education-Industry Cooperation, (NAM newsletter) Oct. 1949, 1–3; “Wayne Schools Hold Business-Industry-Education Day,” American School Board Journal 120 (March 1950): 35–36; Dawley, J. Murdock “B-I-E Day: Glamour Jaunt or Educational Event,” New York State Education 43 (March 1956): 384–386; History and Description of Business-Industry-Education Day Program and Business-Education Day Program Development, n.d., box 144, Selma Borchardt Papers, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan (hereafter ALUA); Whitmore, Eugene “Why Invite School Teachers to Visit Your Plant?” American Business, Sept. 1951, 18–19, 56.Google Scholar

14 Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise, 204–05; Rippa, “Organized Business and Public Education, 162–71; Phraner, Stanley L. to Rathbun, Rasum P. Dec. 11, 1953, Report on St. Louis Program for Implementing “HOBSO in Schools, n.d., box 70, series I, acc. 1411, NAM; Education Department, NAM, Report on HOBSO Activities, Jan. 1, 1956–Dec. 31, 1956, box 65, series I, acc. 1411, NAM; “The American Economic Foundation Annual Report to Contributors, Members and Friends, Nov. 15, 1957, box 2, Jasper Crane Papers, HML; Clark, Fred G. to Mullendore, William C. Feb. 11, 1958, box 213, J. Howard Pew Papers, HML.Google Scholar

15 Public Relations News, April 7, 1947; Economic Club of Detroit to Members, Contributors and Friends, Oct. 17, 1951, Progress Report, Industry and Economic Cooperation Section, The Economic Club of Detroit, Nov. 15, 1950 to April 20, 1951, box 5, Series I, Wayne County AFL-CIO Papers, ALUA; Brechler, C. Carlton “High School Days at Frigidaire,“ Public Relations Journal 8 (July 1952): 7–8; “Students Tour Allegheny-Ludlum Steel Plant,” Trends in Education-Industry Cooperation, Feb. 1948, 6; “Operation Education,” Stet: The House Magazine for House Magazine Editors, Aug. 1950, 1–4; “Winning Young Friends for Business,” Exchange, (NAM newsletter) Oct. 1949, box 122, series I, acc. 1411, NAM.Google Scholar

16 Burton, Mary June “Sponsored School Material are ‘Coming of Age,'“ Public Relations Journal 13 (April 1957): pp. 8–9, 18–19; Davis, Hubert J. “Business-Industry Sponsored Teaching Material: Does it Merit Wider Use?” Clearing House 26 (April 1952): 451–55; Gillen, Paul B. “Cooperation Between Industry and Schools,” Public Relations Journal 5 (March 1949): 11–15; Amberson, Rosanne “Tell Your Story to Tomorrow's Customers,” Public Relations Journal 6 (May 1950): 2, 20–21.Google Scholar

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18 “The Record of the AFL in Support of Education,” American Teacher, May 1943, 2; “Improve Educational Opportunity Thru Federal Aid,” Economic Outlook (CIO Department of Education and Research) May 1949, 37–38.Google Scholar

19 It is important to note that despite this conflict, organized labor was not offering an alternative vision for education. While it had a distinct perspective, postwar labor was firmly anchored in a political consensus that embraced economic growth through increased productivity rather than redistribution as the solution to social and economic inequality. Like business, unions saw schools as critical to facilitating that growth. “Improve Educational Opportunity,” 35–38; Jones, Orville C. “Labor's Concern for Education,“ Education Digest 18 (April 1953): 27–29; Brodinsky, B.P. “Labor Has a Plan for Public Education,” Nation's Schools 43 (Jan. 1949):22–25; “Labor Leaders Tell Philadelphia Teachers What Labor Hopes for From the Schools,” American Teacher, Feb. 1945, 27–28; Reuther, Walter P. “What the Public Schools Should Teach,” Harvard Educational Review 27 (Fall 1957): 246–50; Labor and Education, CIO pamphlet, n.d., box 13, Mark Starr Papers, ALUA.Google Scholar

20 Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise, 207–09; The 719 News (GM UAW Local 719, Brookfield, Ill.), June, July 1950, Dec. 1949; Ithaca Union Labor Review, Jan. 1955, box 30, AUF, Kheel LMDC; Pennsylvania Labor News, July 19, Sept. 6, 1946, July 21, Nov. 17, 1950; Ford Facts, Feb. 28, 1948; AFL News Reporter, Dec. 26, 1951; Reading Labor Advocate, Jan. 5, 1950; AFL Autoworker, July 1951; CIO News, Jan. 1952; Official Bulletin, San Francisco Labor Council, Dec. 10, 1952; Labor's Daily, Dec. 15, 1956; Detroit Teacher, March 19, 1956; American Teacher, Jan. 1956; Carpenter, July 1960.Google Scholar

21 Throughout the decade, annual conventions of the AFL regularly passed resolutions against BIE days or any other program that opened the schools to special interest groups. See for example, American Federation of Labor, Proceedings, 1950, 424–425; American Federation of Labor, Proceedings, 1953, 542–544; American Federation of Labor, Proceedings, 1954, 320–323; Michigan Teacher, Dec. 1951; American Teacher, Sept. 1955; Matthew Woll to State Federations of Labor and City Central Bodies, Dec. 19, 1951; AFL Committee on Education, Minutes, March 25, July 1, 1952, box 8, series 8, AFL Papers, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin (hereafter SHSW); Circular letter, “The Connecticut Federation of Labor, AFL Opposes Business, Industry and Education ‘Days,”’ c. 1953, box 4, series I, American Federation of Teachers Papers, ALUAGoogle Scholar

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23 Fones-Wolf, Selling Free Enterprise, 208–210; Brodinsky, “Labor Has a Plan for Public Education,“ 24; Starr, Mark to Boutwell, William D. March 3, 1950, box 12, Mark Starr Papers, ALUA; Guernsey, George T. to Edwards, Neal W. Oct. 31, 1952, box 6, Textile Workers of America Papers, SHSW.Google Scholar

24 Philadelphia Bulletin, April 23, 1950; Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 22, 1949.Google Scholar

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26 The Board of Directors included Kelly, John B. former Democratic city chairman, Schnader, William A. former state attorney general, Kaufmann, Arthur C. executive head of Brothers, Gimbel Gale, Frank Director of Industrial Relations of Midvale Company, Gibbon, Robert secretary of Curtis Publishing Company, and Boardman, J. Griffith president of Boardman-Hamilton & Company. Other active supporters from the Philadelphia business community were Zinsser, John S. Chairman of the Board of Sharp and Dome, Haynes, Norman T. Vice-President of the Philadelphia National Bank, Curtin, John President of Company, Warner Dever, Henry F. President of Brown Instruments Division of Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company, Henderson Supplee, Vice-President of Atlantic Refining Company, Sharpies, Philip T. Chairman of the Board of the Sharpies Corporation, and Whitwell, George E. Vice-President of the Philadelphia Electric Company; Philadelphia Bulletin, April 23, 1950; ACES Program Flyer, Three-Day Seminar for Business Executives, July 25–27, 1950; Winsor, Curtin to Huston, Steward June 10, 1954, box 2010, acc. 50, Lukens Steel Company Records, HML.Google Scholar

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37 Reading Times, June 25, 1952; Reading Eagle, June 25, 1952.Google Scholar

38 Price, Jonathan L. “The Reading, Pennsylvania Socialist Party and the New Deal,“ (MA thesis, Shippensburg University, 1993); Pratt, William C. “The Reading Socialist Experience: A Study in Working Class Politics,” (Ph.D. diss., Emory University, 1969).Google Scholar

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40 Opposition in Philadelphia was led by the AFT, but there was no teachers local union in Reading in the fifties. The Reading Times, June 25, 1952; Reading Eagle, June 25, 1952; Reading Labor Advocate, June 27, 1952.Google Scholar

41 The Reading Times, March 3, April 22, 1953; Reading Eagle, March 1, 1953 Reading Labor Advocate, April 24, 1953; New Era (Reading, Pa.), April 30, 1953.Google Scholar

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43 Ibid., April 24, 1953.Google Scholar

44 Ibid., April 14, 1953; New Era, April 23, 1953; Pennsylvania Labor News, April 24, 1953.Google Scholar

45 New Era, April 30, 1953.Google Scholar

46 Ibid., May 7, 1953; Minutes, Reading Central Labor Union, May 5, June 2, 1953, Pattee Library.Google Scholar

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