ABSTRACT
Business response to political challenge or possibility has been the subject of much speculation and some recent exhortation. 'Populist' and starkly 'realist' elements in American political thought have tended to assume that powerful firms directly and unequivocally influence politicians. Westinghouse was probably more aggressive in its response to the actual or alleged threat of foreign imports than du Pont could have dreamed of being, just as the attitude of Republic Steel or Inland Steel toward the current enthusiasm for political education differs from that, say, of Allied Paper or Wilson and Company. Du Pont, because it is located in the very small state of Delaware, is more of an elephant among chickens than most of the other great corporations; Anaconda is the only parallel that comes to mind. Du Pont, in some respects, is in the same position as some of the great overseas investors: Standard Oil and its subsidiaries, for example.
