Constructing an Industrial Divide: Western Union, AT&amp;T, and the Federal Government, 1876–1971

Hochfelder, David

doi:10.2307/4127707

Cited by 21 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Understandably, neither Hoover nor his superiors had any interest in sharing the fruits of their surveillance, authorized or not, with congressional committees. 81 On a wide range of issues, including privacy, surveillance, and the rights of congressional witnesses, the Black Committee represented an important turning point in the history of congressional investigations. While Black never suffered anything approaching a "have you no shame" Joseph Welch moment, he had unintentionally established a legal standard that constrained his successors.…”

Section: Conclusion and Historical Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Deal Mass Surveillance: The “Black Inquisition Committee,” 1935–1936

Beito

2018

J. Policy Hist.

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Abstract:At the behest of the Roosevelt administration in 1935, the U.S. Senate established a special committee to investigate lobbying activities by opponents of the “death sentence” of the Public Utility Holding Company Bill. Chaired by Hugo L. Black (D-Ala.), the “Black Committee” expanded its mission into a more general probe of anti–New Deal organizations and individuals. The committee used highly intrusive methods, notably catch-all dragnet subpoenas, to secure evidence. It worked closely with the IRS for access to tax returns and with the FCC to obtain copies of millions of telegrams. When the telegram search became public information, there was a major backlash from the press, Congress, and the courts. Court rulings in 1936, resulting from suits by William Randolph Hearst and others, not only limited the committee’s powers but provided important checks for future investigators, including Senator Joseph McCarthy.

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Section: Conclusion and Historical Assessmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

New Deal Mass Surveillance: The “Black Inquisition Committee,” 1935–1936

Beito

2018

J. Policy Hist.

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“…AT&T's technical innovations also accelerated the transition from Morse code transmission to printing telegraphs, culminating in the news-friendly teletype. 62 AT&T's rise as the dominant telecommunication firm enabled it in 1909 to acquire a controlling interest in Western Union. Although AT&T was forced to divest its Western Union holdings within a few years, its bold maneuver presaged telegraphy's future.…”

Section: The Contours Of Telegraph Technology and Political Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulating Timeliness

Kielbowicz

2015

Journalism & Communication Monographs

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The advent of telegraphy in the United States shifted newsgathering from the public postal system to a private network dominated by telegraph companies and wire services, a nearly simultaneous revolution in journalism's technology and political economy. Postal newsgathering had been open to all newspapers with few costs and constraints, while its telegraphic successor developed amid a web of regulations. A changing configuration of occupational rules, private business arrangements, and public laws regulated each stage in the production of telegraphic news, from source-reporter interactions to post-publication liability. This monograph analyzes the origins of rules that governed timely news-determining who got it, how fast, and on what terms-from the advent of telecommunication to the eclipse of telegraphic news relays.The advent of electrical communication in the 1840s marked the most striking divide in the history of newsgathering. On one side was the postal system, a network that transported fully formed news articles by horseback, stagecoach, railways, and watercraft. On the other side was the telegraph, a network that used electricity-the first application of electricity for any practical purpose-to transmit news as impulses in code over wires. Amplifying this technological revolution was a simultaneous shift in the institutional setting of American communication networks and newsgathering: the postal service operated as a government agency, while the telegraph and its progeny

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“…For instance, it refused telegraph service to newspapers, hotels, and other establishments that subscribed to Bell telephone service (Brock, 1981). However, after two years of vigorous competition, WU abruptly decided to withdraw from the telephone business because of increasing doubts about the validity of its patents and also the need to focus attention and resources against efforts by Jay Gould to takeover the telegraph business (Hochfelder, 2002). WU sought an out of court settlement for the patent suit.…”

Section: Vail's Vision and The Development Of The Bell Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It leased private lines, for both telephony and telegraphy, on this link and thereby breached the boundary WU thought it had secured for itself in the 1879 agreement. As long‐distance telephony grew, businesses started using it more and more, at the expense of telegraphy (Hochfelder, 2002). In terms of cost, telegraphy retained competitive advantage for some time.…”

Section: Vail's Vision and The Development Of The Bell Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Beyond the path of least resistance: the system quest

Sawhney

2012

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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand how visionary system architects wean the development of a new technology away from the seductions of the path of least resistance – a complementary relationship with the entrenched system.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on two cases wherein critical players started pursuing visions of a full‐fledged system while the technology was still an appendage to an established one: Theodore Vail and the development of the Bell telephone system; and the US Navy and the development of wireless telegraphy. Vail's interests were of a commercial nature, securing competitive advantage over Western Union and future rivals. The US Navy's interests were of a geopolitical nature, overthrowing Britain's monopoly on trans‐oceanic cable telegraphy.FindingsThe pursuit of system benefits requires long‐term thinking. In terms of day‐to‐day actions it requires a persistent effort against the seductions of a complementary relationship or the path of least resistance. Vail was compelled to form a separate organization – AT&T – to maintain focus on system formation in the face of short‐term distractions. The US Navy pushed for rules against cross ownership of cable and wireless and opposed international treaties that clubbed the two technologies into the same category, as it wanted the latter to develop independently of the former.Originality/valueThe failure of anticipation, in the case of network technologies, is largely rooted in our inability to see beyond the path of least resistance. Drawing on strategies employed by Vail and the US Navy to wean the development of a new technology away from the path of least resistance, the paper alerts us to possibilities other than the seemingly obvious ones.

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Constructing an Industrial Divide: Western Union, AT&T, and the Federal Government, 1876–1971

Cited by 21 publications

References 6 publications

New Deal Mass Surveillance: The “Black Inquisition Committee,” 1935–1936

New Deal Mass Surveillance: The “Black Inquisition Committee,” 1935–1936

Regulating Timeliness

Beyond the path of least resistance: the system quest

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