Nye Committee

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Nye Committee or " Senate Munitions Investigating Committee " examined the connections between the United States' participation in World War I between 1934 and 1936 .

It was convened to investigate the influence of American arms manufacturers on entering the war in 1917. There were concerns that the "merchants of death" would force the participation of the USA.

history

In a report in Fortune magazine published in March 1934, it was alleged that an "international cartel" of arms manufacturers was driving the peoples first into an arms race, then into fear and hysteria of war, and finally into open conflict. The focus was on the extent to which American companies were involved in the rearmament of Germany.

On April 12, 1934, Gerald P. Nye and Arthur H. Vandenberg introduced the Senate bill p. 206, which was accepted without a dissenting vote. First $ 15,000 was granted, then another $ 35,000 in July.

The committee consisted of seven members, including Senators Homer Bone , James P. Pope , Bennett Champ Clark, and Arthur H. Vandenberg . Majority Democrats elected Senator Gerald Nye as chairman. Alger Hiss was the chief advisor .

In 93 hearings over the next 18 months, 200 witnesses from 50 companies were interviewed, including JP Morgan Jr. and Pierre S. du Pont . The committee published corporate and government documents in 39 volumes of 13,750 pages. In 1943, a 1,125-page register was delayed to provide access for the Senate Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program (1941-1946).

The committee was stripped of its funds in early 1936 when Nye accused the late President Woodrow Wilson of withholding information from Congress about the proposed declaration of war. It suggested three laws of neutrality ; however, it failed to achieve its goal of nationalizing the arms industry.

Results

The committee found that the arms industry had fixed prices and had a strong influence on US foreign policy before and during the war to encourage the country to participate. It reported that between 1915 and April 1917 , the German Reich received $ 27 million and the United Kingdom received $ 2.3 billion (85 times that) in loans from the United States . From these data, some concluded that the US entered the war so as not to lose its commercial interests in Britain.

The result was “that American aviation companies did their part to assist Germany's air armament.” So on March 29, 1933 , BMW had licensed the 'Hornet D' engine from Pratt & Whitney , although military motives behind the German interest cannot be overlooked have been. And the Sperry Gyroscope Company worked with the Askania Works in the field of gyro and radio navigation.

literature

  • Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. and Roger Burns (Eds.): Congress Investigates. A Documented History, 1792-1974 . Chelsea House Publ., New York 1975, ISBN 0-8352-0795-1 (5 vols.).
  • Joachim Kossmann: National Security Policy and Transnational Technology Transfer. The 'Nye Committee' and German air armaments 1934-1936 . In: Harm Schröter, Clemens Wurm (Hrsg.): Politics, economy and international relations . Mainz 1991, p. 97 ff.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from: Kossmann, p. 110.