War Industries Board Established: Bernard Baruch and "Dollar-a-Year Men" Institutionalize Corporate-Government Fusion

The United States government established the War Industries Board (WIB) to coordinate the purchase of war supplies between the War Department and Navy Department during World War I. The WIB existed from July 1917 to December 1918 to coordinate and channel production by setting priorities, fixing prices, and standardizing products to support the war efforts of the United States and its allies. In spring 1918, President Woodrow Wilson reorganized the board and named Wall Street trader Bernard Baruch as its chairman. Wilson transferred to Baruch the power to coordinate industry that Congress had granted to the president in the National Defense and Military Appropriations Acts of 1916, as well as certain controls over the military that Wilson had as commander in chief. Endowed with this authority, Baruch was able to determine priorities, requisition supplies, conserve resources, commandeer plants, and make purchases for the United States and the Allies. Baruch, previously one of the most famous Wall Street traders, formulated an elaborate plan whereby representatives of various businesses were organized into “committees of the industries” to work with the council in coordinating resources. For their efforts, they received one dollar a year and became known as the “dollar-a-year men.” Prior to taking this position, Baruch divested most of his stock portfolio to avoid conflict of interest and invested almost 75% of his $10 million fortune in Liberty Bonds. However, the WIB often had to negotiate with industry rather than direct it, and Baruch was never an industrial czar. Under the WIB, industrial production in the U.S. increased 20%. The WIB was terminated by executive order on January 1, 1919. The model established a template for corporate-government coordination that would influence future mobilization efforts and blur lines between public interest and corporate profit.