However, the desire to limit the growth of industry power was superseded by the need to mobilize the nation for war. While before, during the 1920s, the numbers of manufacturing jobs had begun to abate, during World War II, manufacturing once again became a growth sector (Bryant 1999). What did emerge during World War II, was a desire upon the part of the federal government to control the production and shape of modern industries, and an acknowledge for some regulation of corporate efforts to serve the common good: "The federal government emerged from the war as a potent economic actor, able to regulate economic activity and to partially control the economy through spending and consumption. American industry was revitalized by the war, and many sectors were by 1945 either sharply oriented to defense production (for example, aerospace and electronics) or completely dependent on it (atomic energy)"(Tassava 2008). The government took a new role in directing industry research in the case of atomic energy. This still exists today, as is manifest at pharmaceutical companies that fund private research but receive government research grants to embark upon initiatives deemed necessary for the public good, such as creating retroviral drugs to treat AIDS. Also, regarding the modern defense industry, private defense companies receive government contracts in another manifestation of the complementary relationship between government and big business that has existed since the Second World War mobilization.

In World War II, the relationship between government and industry became almost symbiotic in some cases, as the government revitalized the lagging airplane industry, particularly hard hit in the 1930s, where few individuals...

Companies like Boeing were revitalized and transformed into defense-industry entities and became dependant upon the government for their livelihood.
Others, such as Ford and General Motors, temporarily shifted their production facilities in the process of converting to the wartime economy but were helped, rather than contained by the government.

World War II ended the depression, generated jobs, and ironically created prosperity, wealth, and an increase in purchasing power for ordinary Americans on a level that had not been seen since the 1920s (Tassava 2008). The ensuing postwar boom created an America of economic strength, reliant upon large corporations and a government that supported those corporations, although the government attempted to regulate corporate excesses. Ever since then, as corporate entities have grown larger and larger, the practice of government regulation of business size and ethics has become more and more difficult. Whether another shift in the balance between corporate and government power in the current century is necessary still remains to be seen.

Works Cited

Bryant, Joyce. "The Great Depression and the New Deal." Yale-New Haven Teachers'

Project. Volume 2. 1998. 2008. 19 May 2008. http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1998/4/98.04.04.x.html#b

Samuelson, Robert J. "The Modern American corporation." APF Reporter. Volume 5.

1983. 19 May 2008. http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF0505/Samuelson/Samuelson.html

Tassava, "The American Economy During World War II." EH Net. 10 Feb 2008.

19 Mat 2008. http: / / the.net/encyclopedia/article/tassava.WWII