Nationalizing American Radio: Anti-Monopoly, Nationalism, and the First Alexander Bill, 1915–1917

Abstract

In 1917, President Wilson proposed the nationalization of radio. Usually portrayed as a power grab by the Navy and Secretary Josephus Daniels, the proposal arose from a broader consensus within the administration to nationalize monopolistic communication systems and to assert national control during the European war. The legislation to nationalize ship to shore radio failed in committee when radiotelegraph services and scientists swayed a hostile House of Representatives committee to table the bill. Once the US entered the war, Daniels used his wartime powers to take control of the radio, a move quickly undone at the end of the war.

Notes

¹I have used two Internet inflation calculators to reach this rough figure, based on $6,000 in 1916: http://www.halfhill.com/inflation.html; http://www.westegg.com/inflation/infl.cgi, [both accessed March 26, 2010].