What is Free Enterprise? How a Contested Concept Became a Conservative Keyword
Although we tend to take the term for granted, Americans debated the meaning of the term “free enterprise” throughout the twentieth century. This talk, based on Glickman’s forthcoming book, Free Enterprise: An American History, examines some of those debates the concerns they engendered among those who saw “free enterprise” as a keyword in the battle against the New Deal. Notwithstanding continuing confusion the term, defined almost exclusively negatively, did emerge as an important element in the rise of conservatism in the post-WWII United States.