Mr. Kaiser Goes to Washington

Description

Before Silicon Valley’s revolving door, there was Henry J. Kaiser. In Mr. Kaiser Goes to Washington, historian Stephen B. Adams tells the story of one of America’s boldest industrialists — a builder who turned government contracts into an empire.

Kaiser rose from road-building in the West to become a central figure in the New Deal era: his companies helped build the Hoover Dam and the Grand Coulee Dam, then revolutionized World War II shipbuilding with assembly-line techniques that produced Liberty ships in record time. His ventures extended to aluminum, automobiles, and even health care — the Kaiser Permanente system, born from caring for his workers, became a model for modern managed care.

Part business history and part political biography, this book offers a fascinating portrait of an era when government and industry built America together — and of the man who understood that partnership better than anyone.

Before there was Silicon Valley’s revolving door, there was Henry J. Kaiser. In Mr. Kaiser Goes to Washington, historian Stephen B. Adams tells the story of one of America’s boldest industrialists — a builder who turned government contracts into an empire.
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nKaiser rose from road-building in the West to become a central figure in the New Deal era: his companies helped build the Hoover Dam and the Grand Coulee Dam, then revolutionized World War II shipbuilding with assembly-line techniques that produced Liberty ships in record time. His ventures extended to aluminum, automobiles, and even health care — the Kaiser Permanente system, born from caring for his workers, became a model for modern managed care.
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nAdams shows how Kaiser mastered the art of the ‘government entrepreneur,’ thriving at the intersection of private ambition and public spending. He cultivated political alliances in Washington, won massive federal contracts, and reshaped the relationship between business and the state.
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nPart business history and part political biography, this book offers a fascinating portrait of an era when government and industry built America together — and of the man who understood that partnership better than anyone.