National Industrial Information Committee (U.S.)

The National Industrial Information Committee (NIIC) was formed in 1934 under the auspices of the National Association of Manufacturers in order to produce public relations programs that would promote the free enterprise system at a time when many in the business community believed that it was under assault from the New Deal and organized labor. Ernest T. Weir, chairman of the National Steel Corporation, was the first chairman of the NIIC. Although the NIIC was formally part of NAM, it was independently funded and semi-autonomous. Its original purpose was to raise funds for NAM's public relations programs, and its founding members were all manufacturers who belonged to NAM. Within a few years, many non-manufacturing companies and trade associations had joined, and the NIIC had launched a number of independent programs.

NIIC activities expanded during the Second World War as it focused on making the public aware of the contributions that business was making to the war effort while promoting workplace discipline. Its "Soldiers of Production" rallies received national attention. In 1943 Alfred P. Sloan, chairman of General Motors, became chair of the NIIC governing board, which now numbered forty members and reported to NAM's board of directors. The NIIC Program Committee was appointed by NAM's president upon recommendation of the chair of the NIIC governing board. James Adams, president of Standard Brands, chaired the NIIC Program Committee for much of the 1940s. By 1944 the NIIC was organized into the following departments: mass media; group relations (church, education, women's clubs); company participation; regional offices; and fund raising. The NIIC launched a number of highly sophisticated public relations campaigns during World War II as it sought to identifyAmerican business with the war effort and seize the patriotic initiative from organized labor and New Deal liberalism. During the 1940s, the NIIC operated an industrial press service and produced a series of "Briefs for Broadcasters" that provided mass media outlets with informational and public relations materials about America's free enterprise system. By 1945 many within NAM thought that the NIIC has become too independent. There was a good deal of opposition to a 19.

44-45program that highlighted the role that high wages and consumerism could play in building postwar prosperity. Many NAM members thought that this approach came dangerously close to endorsing Keynesian and New Deal economics. The NIIC was reorganized in 1946 with its independence severely limited. By 1947 it had become a fundraising vehicle for the National Association of Manufacturers.

From the description of Records, 1936-1947. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122355316