The "problem of preferences": Medicare and business support for the welfare state

Studies in American Political Development

Volumn 26, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 83-106

  Broockman, David E ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84871310287     PISSN: 0898588X     EISSN: 14698692     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0898588X12000077     Document Type: Article

References (207)

1. Guest List for the Signing of the Medicare Bill, 29 July 1965, Ex LE/IS, Box 75, LBJ Library.
2. M. E. Feary to John Byrnes,. 22 February 1965, Box 29, John Byrnes Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.
3. U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Finance, Sessions on H.R. 6675, Testimony of Leslie J. Dikovics, 89th Cong., 1st sess., 10-19 May 1965.
4. See Peter A. Swenson, Capitalists Against Markets (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002);
5. Isabela Mares, The Politics of Social Risk: Business and Welfare State Development (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003).
6. Mark A. Smith, American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and Democracy (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2000);
7. Cathie Jo Martin, Stuck in Neutral: Business and the Politics of Human Capital Investment Policy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999).
8. See John Gerring, Case Study Research: Principles and Practices (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), chap. 7.
9. See Lawrence R. Jacobs, The Health of Nations (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993), 157-62, 203-6;
10. Jonathan Oberlander, The Political Life of Medicare (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003).
11. Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, "Business Power and Social Policy: Employers and the Formation of the American Welfare State," Politics and Society 30 (2002): 277-325.
12. Walter Korpi, The Working Class in Welfare Capitalism. (London: Routledge, 1978), 317.
13. Walter Korpi, The Democratic Class Struggles (London: Routledge, 1983), 21.
14. Peter A. Swenson. "Varieties of Capitalist Interests: Power, Institutions, and the Regulatory Welfare State in the United States and Sweden," Studies in American Political Development 18 (2004): 1-29;
15. Swenson, Capitalists Against Markets, 5;
16. Peter A. Swenson, "Bringing Capital Back in, or, Social Democracy Reconsidered: Employer Power, Cross-Class Alliances, and Centralization of Industrial Relations in Denmark and Sweden," World Politics 43 (1991): 513-44.
17. Colin Gordon, New Deals: Business, Labor, and Politics in America: 1920-1935 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 4, 241-42.
18. Mares, Politics of Social Risk, 5, 9, 264.
19. Peter A. Swenson, "Yes, and Comparative Analysis Too: Rejoinder to Hacker and Pierson," Studies in American Political Development 18 (2004): 196-200.
20. Peter Swenson, "Arranged Alliance: Business Interests in the New Deal," Politics and Society 25 (1997): 66-116;
21. Swenson, "Bringing Capital Back In";
22. Gordon, New Deals;
23. Cathie Jo Martin and Duane Swank, "Does the Organization of Capital Matter? Employers and Active Labor Market Policy at the National and Firm Levels," American Political Science Review 98 (2004), 593-611;
24. Edward D. Berkowitz and Kim McQuaid, Creating the Welfare State: The Political Economy of Twentieth Century Reform (New York: Praeger, 1988);
25. J. Craig Jenkins and Barbara G. Brents, "Social Protest, Hegemonic Competition, and Social Reform: A Political Struggle Interpretation of the Origins of the American Welfare State," American Sociological Review 54 (1989): 891-909.
26. Torben Iversen and David Soskice, "An Asset Theory of Social Policy Preferences," American Political Science Review 95 (2001): 875-93;
27. G. William Domhoff, The Power Elite and the State: How Policy Is Made in America (New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 1990), chap. 4;
28. Jill S. Quadagno, The Transformation of Old Age Security (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988).
29. Walter Korpi, "Power Resources and Employer-Centered Approaches in Explanations of Welfare States and Varieties of Capitalism: Protagonists, Contesters, and Antagonists," World Politics 58 (2006): 167-206.
30. Hacker and Pierson, "Business Power and Social Policy";
31. Korpi, "Power Resources and Employer-Centered Approaches."
32. Swenson, "Varieties of Capitalist Interests."
33. Jeffry A. Frieden, "Actors and Preferences in International Relations," in Strategic Choice and International Relations, ed. David A. Lake and Robert Powell (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999).
34. Elizabeth M. Penn, John W. Patty, and Sean Gailmard, "Manipulation and Single-Peakedness: A General Result," American Journal of Political Science 55 (2011): 436-49.
35. See David Kirkpatrick, "White House Affirms Deal on Drug Cost," New York Times, August 6, 2009, A1.
36. See Hacker and Pierson, "Business Power and Social Policy.".
37. See Gary Cox and Eric Magar, "How Much Is Majority Status in the U.S. Congress Worth?" American Political Science Review 93 (1999): 299-309.
38. Paul Pierson, "When Effect Becomes Cause: Policy Feedback and Political Change," World Politics 45 (1993): 595-628.
39. Swenson, "Yes, and Comparative Analysis Too."
40. Oberlander, The Political Life of Medicare, 22-25.
41. Theodore R. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare (London: Routledge, 1973), 13.
42. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 24-30.
43. David Blumenthal, The Heart of Power (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009), 143-44.;
44. Jaap Kooijman, . . . And the Pursuit of National Health (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1999).
45. James L. Sundquist, Politics and Policy: The Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson Years (Washington, DC: Brookings, 1968), 308.
46. Blumenthal, The Heart of Power, 139, 146, 207-12.
47. Kooijman, And the Pursuit of National Health, 145-46;
48. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 24-27.
49. Kooijman, And the Pursuit of National Health, 149-59.
50. Blumenthal, Heart of Power, 179;
51. Lyndon B. Johnson and Wilbur Mills, 3 June 1964, Citation #3642, Recordings of Telephone Conversations-White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library.
52. Lyndon B. Johnson and Wilbur Mills, 6 June 1964, Citation #3686, Recordings of Telephone Conversations - White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library.
53. Lawrence F. O'Brien. Oral History Interview XI, 24 July 1986, by Michael L. Gillette, Internet Copy, LBJ Library, (emphasis mine);
54. Lawrence F. O'Brien to Lyndon B. Johnson, 27 January 1964, Ex LE/IS, box 75, LBJ Library
55. Transcript, Wilbur Mills Oral History Interview II, 25 March 1987, by Michael L. Gillette, Internet Copy, LBJ Library for Mills' own consistent take.
56. Richard Fenno, Congressmen in Committees (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1973), 54-55, 203;
57. John Manley, The Politics of Finance (Boston: Little Brown and Company, 1970), 106;
58. Julian Zelizer, Taxing America: Wilbur D. Mills, Congress, and the State, 1945-1975 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).
59. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 56;
60. Kooijman, . . . And the Pursuit of National Health, 159-62.
61. Christy Chapin, "Ensuring America's Health: Publicly Constructing the Private Health Insurance Industry," ch. 8, (PhD dissertation, University of Virginia, 2011).
62. Sundquist, Politics and Policy, 317.
63. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 57-59.
64. Harris, A Sacred Trust, 177.
65. Mike Manatos to Lawrence F. O'Brien, 8 December1964, Ex LE/IS, Box 75, LBJ Library.
66. Harris, A Sacred Trust, 174.
67. Lawrence Grossback, David Peterson, and James Stimson, Mandate Politics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 1-2, 27, 45.
68. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 57-59;
69. Blumenthal, The Heart of Power, 185;
70. Kooijman, . . . And the Pursuit of National Health, 164. The 1964 ANES illustrates the point: Medicare enjoyed public support by a greater than 2 to 1 margin. American National Election Studies (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, Center for Political Studies, 1964).
71. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 60-61;
72. Recording of Conversation between Lyndon B. Johnson and Walter Reuther, 29 November 1964, Citation #6474, Recordings of Telephone Conversations - White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library.
73. Transcript, Wilbur Mills Oral History Interview II, 25 March 1987, by Michael L. Gillette, Internet Copy, LBJ Library, (emphasis mine).
74. Harris, A Sacred Trust, 179.
75. Kooijman, And the Pursuit of National Health, 164-65;
76. Lawrence F. O'Brien Oral History Interview XI, 24 July, 1986, by Michael L. Gillette, Internet Copy, LBJ Library;
77. Wilbur J. Cohen to Jack Valenti, 4 March 1965, Ex LE/IS, Box 75, LBJ Library.
78. Kooijman, And the Pursuit of National Health, 164-65;
79. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 61;
80. Sheri I. David, With Dignity (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1985), 126;
81. Harris, A Sacred Trust, 180.
82. John Byrnes, 1967, Butler Library Oral History Collection, Columbia University, (emphasis mine).
83. David, With Dignity, 126;
84. Kooijman, And the Pursuit of National Health, 165.
85. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 64.
86. Kooijman, And the Pursuit of National Health, 166-68;
87. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 64;
88. David, With Dignity, 129;
89. Blumenthal, The Heart of Power, 188-89.
90. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Executive Session on Medical Care for the Aged, 89th Cong, 1st sess., 2 March 1965.
91. David Vogel, Fluctuating Fortunes: The Political Power of Business in America (New York: Basic Books, 1989).
92. Zelizer, Taxing America.
93. Box 49, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) Papers, Hagley Museum and Library.
94. Medical Care for the Aged Information Kit, January 1960, Box 23, NAM Papers, Hagley.
95. Flyer Against the Forand Bill, 1959?, Box 23, NAM Papers, Hagley.
96. Medical Care Under Social Security, November 1961, Box 132, NAM Papers, Hagley.
97. Industry's Viewpoint on Medical Care, May 1962, Imprints Collection, Hagley.
98. Speech by James E. Higgins at Columbia University, 12 June 1962, Box 23, NAM Papers, Hagley.
99. "Medical Care, Voluntary or Mandatory?," NAM Employee Health and Benefits Committee, 1963, Box 132, NAM Papers, Hagley.
100. NAM Bulletin, 7 May 1962, Box 49, NAM Papers, Hagley.
101. NAM Memo to Members, 11 September 1964, Box 49, NAM Papers, Hagley.
102. NAM Washington Reports, 18 September 1964, NAM Papers, Hagley.
103. "A Memorandum Examining the Issue of, and the Arguments for, Social Security 'Medicare,'" June 1963, Chamber of Commerce, Imprints, Hagley.
104. "Adding Health Benefits to Social Security: Are There Basic Conflicts?" June 1963, Chamber of Commerce, Imprints, Hagley Museum.
105. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Hearing on Medical Care for the Aged, Testimony of Karl T. Schlotterbeck, 88th Cong., 2nd sess., 22-24 January 1964.
106. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Hearing on Medical Care for the Aged, Testimony of Leslie J. Dikovics, 88th Cong., 2nd sess., 22-24 January 1964.
107. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Hearing on Medical Care for the Aged, Testimony of E. Russell Bartley [of the Illinois Manufacturers Association], 88th Cong., 2nd sess., 22-24 January 1964.
108. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Hearing on Medical Care for the Aged, Statement of the National Association of Manufacturers, 88th Cong., 2nd sess., 22-24 January 1964.
109. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 36-37.
110. Hacker, The Divided Welfare State, 243.
111. Minutes of the Meeting of the Employee Health and Benefits Committee, 24 May 1963, Box 23, NAM Papers, Hagley.
112. NAM 1964 Industry Beliefs, 1964, Box 215, NAM Papers, Hagley.
113. Minutes, 26 June 1964, Box 3, Chamber of Commerce Papers, Hagley.
114. Public Affairs Report, 27 January 1965, Box 49, NAM Papers, Hagley.
115. Meeting of the NAM Public and Private Benefits Subcommittee, 24 November 1964, Box 23, NAM Papers, Hagley.
116. "Facts About National Legislative Issues of Importance to All Americans," 1965, Box 23, NAM Papers, Hagley;
117. "Do We Need Medical Assistance for the Aged Under Social Security?" 1965, NAM, Imprints, Hagley;
118. "Poverty: The Sick, Disabled, and Aged," U.S. Chamber of Commerce Task Force on Economic Growth on Opportunity, 1965, Imprints, Hagley.
119. Washington Report, 15 February 1965, NAM Papers, Box 216, Hagley.
120. Meeting of the NAM Public and Private Benefits Subcommittee, 24 November 1964, Box 23, NAM Papers, Hagley (emphasis mine).
121. NAM Policy Report, October 1965, NAM Papers, Box 23, Hagley.
122. M. E. Feary to John Byrnes, 22 February 1965, Box 29, John Byrnes Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.
123. Peter Swenson, "B is for Byrnes and Business: An Untold Story about Medicare," Clio (June 2006).
124. U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Finance, Sessions on H.R. 6675, Testimony of Mark E. Richardson, 89th Cong., 1st sess., 10-19 May 1965.
125. U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Finance, Sessions on H.R. 6675, Testimony of Leslie J. Dikovics, 89th Cong., 1st sess. 10-19 May 1965.
126. U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Finance, Sessions on H.R. 6675, Testimony of Karl T. Schlotterbeck, 89th Cong., 1st sess. 10-19 May 1965.
127. U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Finance, Sessions on H.R. 6675, Testimony of George L. Cullen, 89th Cong., 1st sess. 10-19 May 1965.
128. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Hearing on Medical Care for the Aged, Testimony of Leslie J. Dikovics, 88th Cong., 2nd sess., 22-24 January 1964.
129. U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Finance, Sessions on H.R. 6675, Testimony of Leslie J. Dikovics, 89th Cong., 1st sess., 10-19 May 1965.
130. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Hearing on Medical Care for the Age d, Testimony of Karl T. Schlotterbeck, 88th Cong., 2nd sess., 22-24 January 1964.
131. U.S. Congress Senate Committee on Finance, Sessions on H.R. 6675, Testimony of Karl T. Schlotterbeck, 89th Cong., 1st sess., 10-19 May 1965.
132. Meeting of the NAM Public and Private Benefits Subcommittee, 24 November 1964, Box 23, NAM Papers, Hagley.
133. David M. Hart, ""Business" Is Not An Interest Group: On the Study of Companies in American National Politics," Annual Review of Political Science 7 (2004): 47-69;
134. Martin, Stuck in Neutral.
135. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 18.
136. Swenson, "Varieties of Capitalist Interests," 22.
137. Swenson, "B Is for Byrnes and Business," 6.
138. NAM Political Files, Box 5, NAM Papers, Hagley.
139. Dear Colleague Letter, 1 October 1962, Box 32, John Byrnes Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.
140. David West to John Byrnes, 18 November 1963, Box 34, John Byrnes Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.
141. Memo from David West, 3 February 1964, Box 34, John Byrnes Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society.
142. John Byrnes to John Reynolds, 18 September 1964, Box 34, John Byrnes Papers, Wisconsin Historical Society;
143. John Byrnes, 1967, Butler LibraryOral History Collection, Columbia University.
144. David, With Dignity, 126;
145. Kooijman, And the Pursuit of National Health, 165.
146. Reminiscences of John Byrnes.
147. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 63.
148. Reminiscences of John Byrnes.
149. Harris, A Sacred Trust, 181, 186.
150. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Executive Session on Medical Care for the Aged, 89th Cong., 1st sess., 2 March 1965.
151. David, With Dignity, 131.
152. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 63.
153. Harris, A Sacred Trust, 188.
154. Marmor, The Politics of Medicare, 64 (emphasis mine).
155. Transcript, Lawrence F. O'Brien Oral History Interview XI, 24 July 1986, by Michael L. Gillette, Internet Copy, LBJ Library.
156. Harris, A Sacred Trust, 187.
157. Transcript, Lawrence F. O'Brien Oral History Interview XI, 24 July 1986, by Michael L. Gillette, Internet Copy, LBJ Library (emphasis mine).
158. Douglass Cater Oral History Interview, 26 May 1974, by David G. McComb, Internet Copy, LBJ Library.
159. Lawrence F. O'Brien Oral History Interview XI, 24 July 1986, by Michael L. Gillette, Internet Copy, LBJ Library.
160. Wilbur J. Cohen to Jack Valenti, 4 March 1965, Ex LE/IS, Box 75, LBJ Library.
161. Harris, A Sacred Trust, 190.
162. Lyndon B. Johnson and Wilbur Cohen, 11 March 1965, Citation #7141, Recordings of Telephone Conversations-White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library.
163. Kooijman, And the Pursuit of National Health, 178.
164. Mares, The Politics of Social Risk.
165. U.S. Congress House Committee on Ways and Means, Executive Session on Medical Care for the Aged, 89th Cong., 1st sess., 2 March 1965.
166. "The Congress: An Idea on The March," Time magazine, January 11, 1963.
167. "Wilbur Mills Talks on Taxes," National Business Magazine, August 1964
168. Zelizer, Taxing America.
169. Materials for Speech for the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce on January 1962, Wilbur Mills Papers, Box 784.
170. Speech for the Heber Springs Chamber of Commerce, Box 590, Wilbur Mills Papers;
171. Speech for the Associated Wholesale Grocery, Box 591, Wilbur Mills Papers.
172. Speech for the Paragould Chamber of Commerce, Box 600, Wilbur Mills Papers.
173. Speech to Little Rock Jr. Chamber of Commerce on November 4, 1965
174. Speech to Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, November 10, 1965, among others, Box 658, Wilbur Mills Papers.
175. Speech to the West Memphis Chamber of Commerce on January 15, 1965, Box 782, Wilbur Mills Papers.
176. Speech to the Kiwanis Convention, September 28, 1964. Box 592, Wilbur Mills Papers.
177. Speech to the Lions Club, December 2, 1964, Box 600, Wilbur Mills Papers.
178. Zelizer, Taxing America.
179. Smith, American Business and Political Power, 10-11;
180. Pepper D. Culpepper, Quiet Politics and Business Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011);
181. Martin, Stuck in Neutral. 136.
182. Recording of Conversation between Lyndon B. Johnson and Wilbur Mills, 11 March 1965, Citation #7141 (emphasis mine).
183. Lyndon B. Johnson and Wilbur Cohen, 11 March 1965, Citation #7141, Recordings of Telephone Conversations - White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library.
184. Lyndon B. Johnson and Wilbur Mills, 11 March 1965, Citation #7141, Recordings of Telephone Conversations - White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library;
185. Lyndon B. Johnson and Carl Albert, 11 March 1965, Citation #7141, Recordings of Telephone Conversations - White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library.
186. Lyndon B. Johnson and Hubert Humphrey, 2 March 1965, Citation #7024, Recordings of Telephone Conversations - White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library.
187. Swenson, "Varieties of Capitalists Interests," 4.
188. Blumenthal, The Heart of Power, 179;
189. Lyndon B. Johnson and Wilbur Mills, 3 June 1964, Citation #3642, Recordings of Telephone Conversations - White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library.
190. Lyndon B. Johnson and Wilbur Mills, 6 June 1964, Citation #3686, Recordings of Telephone Conversations - White House Series, Recordings and Transcripts of Conversations and Meetings, LBJ Library;
191. Blumenthal, The Heart of Power, 180.
192. "Mills The Miracle Worker," Publisher's Newspaper Syndicate, 6 April 1965, Mills Papers, Box 275
193. "After 20 Years of Argument, House Tackles A Health Bill," Atlanta Journal Constitution, 8 April 1965, p. 5, Mills Papers, Box 275.
194. "Mr. Mills' Elder-medi-bettercare," Fortune, April 1965, Box 410, Mills Papers
195. Evelyne Huber and John D. Stephens, Development and Crisis of the Welfare State (Chicago: Chicago University Press, 2001).
196. See Theda Skocpol, "Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of Analysis in Current Research," in Bringing The State Back In, ed. Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschemeyer, and Theda Skocpol (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985);
197. Samuel DeCanio, "State Autonomy and American Political Development: How Mass Democracy Promoted State Power," Studies in American Political Development 19 (2005): 117-36.
198. Blumenthal, The Heart of Power, for both a review of and a unique skeptical perspective on this claim 148. Frieden, "Actors and Preferences in International Relations."
199. Hacker and Pierson, "Business Power and Social Policy."
200. Frieden, "Actors and Preferences in International Relations."
201. Korpi, "Power Resources and Employer-Centered Approaches in Explanations of Welfare States and Varieties of Capitalism."
202. Gerring, Case Study Research, 173.
203. Ronald Aminzade, "Class Analysis, Politics, and French Labor History," in Rethinking Labor History, ed. Lenard Berlanstein (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 90-113;
204. James Mahoney, "Strategies of Causal Assessment in Comparative Historical Analysis," in Comparative Historical Analysis in the Social Sciences, ed. James Mahoney and Dietrich Rueschemeyer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 337-72.
205. Adam Bonica, "Ideology and Interests in the Political Marketplace" (working paper, Stanford University, 2012).
206. See Paul Samuelson, "Consumption Theory in Terms of Revealed Preference," Economica 15 (1948): 243-53.
207. Frieden, "Actors and Preferences in International Relations."