Re: The role of U.S. capitalists in cold war policy

[Peter Hollings <phollings@xxxxxxx>]

Walt --

I hope this helps, although I have not limited myself to the Cold War
era. There should be many additional sources, several come to mind.
Jules Archer's "The Plot to Sieze the White House," although mainly
about the story described in its title, contains a lot on the
experiences and views of Gen. Smedley Butler who had first hand
experience leading a number of imperialistic military actions overseas
in the early 20th cent. The book is also valuable in that it documents
the efforts of key business and financial leaders to "sieze" control of
the US government (!). Archer's work is difficult to obtain because,
although old copies sell for $300 to $600, it appears to be out of print
deliberately (suppressed). If there is interest, I can locate a copy
available for download (free). 

A more recent work, also by a first-hand participant, is John Perkins'
"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man". For Perkins' work see:
http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Economic-Hit-John-Perkins/dp/045228708
1/sr=8-1/qid=1159476115/ref=sr_1_1/103-0218453-2959865?ie=UTF8&s=books .


Also, I recommend the very interesting article "Capitalism and War" at
http://bnarchives.yorku.ca/205/01/20060806nb_cheap_wars_tikkun_web.htm .


For a rather suprising look at the extra-governmental processes
sometimes involved, I'd suggest the recent conference held in Banff,
Canada described in "Deep Integration Planned at Secret Conference
Ignored by the Media". The planned integration includes Canada, the US
and Mexico. See http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php/20060919132553106
, http://www.vivelecanada.ca/staticpages/index.php/20060830133702539 and
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52063 .

Peter Hollings

-----Original Message-----
From: PEN-L list [mailto:PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Walt Byars
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 9:56 PM
To: PEN-L@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [PEN-L] The role of U.S. capitalists in cold war policy


Does anyone know of any good sources discussing (even ones mentioning it
as an aside work) the role of capitalists in supporting, facilitating,
and
formulating U.S. cold war foreign policy, particularly when it comes to
military intervention and other sorts of opposition to leftist movements
in other countries. Also interested in direct, not merely
circumstantial,
evidence of U.S. foreign policy in this era being used to support U.S.
business interests. A teacher of mine I was discussing this with
conceded
that these policies did help U.S. capital, but claimed that for the most
part there wasn't evidence that this was their intent. I believe I've
seen
quite a deal of such evidence, I just odn't remember the specific
sources.