A. J. Murphy, "Pentagon Capitalism: How the Cold War US Military Modeled Itself on Private Business" (Harvard UP, 2026)
About this episode
Dr. A. J. Murphy discusses how the Cold War US military adopted business practices and the implications of this shift.
The strategic landscape of the Cold War generated political support for a permanent US military force of unprecedented scale. Faced with the problem of managing this behemoth, leaders of the defense bureaucracy looked to private industry for inspiration: since the military now resembled a huge industrial conglomerate, they reasoned, it should be run like a business. In Pentagon Capitalism: How the Cold War US Military Modeled Itself on Private Business (Harvard UP, 2026), Dr. A. J. Murphy explores the profound consequences of translating military structures of command, logistics, and warfare into capitalist terms.In the realm of budgeting and finance, defense reformers refashioned the supply process as a buy-and-sell transaction between units, requiring officers to express their need for equipment and labor in dollar terms. Bureaucrats embraced Taylorist work measurement to supervise everything from clerical filing to the production of massive weapons systems. The services even engaged management consultants to establish officer-training academies modeled on the Harvard Business School.After the Vietnam War, many military leaders pushed back, questioning “managerialism”…
People in this episode
Host: Marshall Poe
Guest: A. J. Murphy
Topics covered
- Cold War
- military
- capitalism
- defense reform
- management
- bureaucracy
Keywords
- Pentagon Capitalism
- military management
- defense budgeting
- Taylorism
- Vietnam War
- command structures
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Harvard UP
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