The National Industrial Information Committee (NIIC) was formed in 1934 under the auspices of NAM in order to produce public relations programs highlighting positive aspects of the private enterprise system. This was part of an effort to oppose the increase of government regulation over the economy that characterized President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (1882-1945) New Deal and the growing power of organized labor. Ernest T. Weir (1875-1957), chairman of National Steel Corporation, was a founding member and the first chairman of the NIIC. Although the NIIC was part of NAM, the program was independently financed. The earlier subscribers were manufacturers, but membership was expanded to include non-manufacturing groups. The NIIC’s original purpose was to raise funds for NAM’s public information programs that were under the jurisdiction of the NAM Public Relations Committee. By 1943 there were approximately 5,000 NIIC subscribers and the NIIC had become a separate entity within NAM.

With the expansion of the NIIC during World War II, several committees were established to facilitate its operation. The NIIC Governing Board held its first meeting on March 25, 1943, with Alfred P. Sloan Jr. (1875-1966) (chairman of the board of General Motors Corporation) as chairman. The Governing Board was selected by and reported to the NAM Board of Directors. It was comprised of forty members and was responsible for raising funds for and financially managing the NIIC program, recommending budgets to the NAM Board for the operation of the NIIC program.

The NIIC Executive Committee consisted of the chairmen of the NIIC Governing Board, NIIC Program Committee, and the NAM Board of Directors; NAM’s president; and the executive director of the NIIC staff. The NIIC Executive Committee met monthly to review progress on program initiatives and coordinated various boards and committees. The chairman of the NIIC Governing Board acted as the chair for the NIIC Executive Committee.

The NIIC Program Committee was appointed by NAM’s president upon recommendation of the chair of the NIIC Governing Board. James S. Adams (1897-1976), President of Standard Brands, was chairman of the NIIC Program Committee. The committee supervised the NIIC program carried out by the NIIC staff. Clifford E. Harrison Jr. (1911-1951) was the NIIC executive director from 1943 until the 1945 reorganization after which time he became the assistant to NAM’s executive vice president, Walter B. Weisenburger (1888-1947). Prior to 1943, Harrison was NAM assistant vice president. Harrison directly supervised the daily operations of the NIIC and reported to Weisenburger.

The NIIC programs were developed as follows. Weisenburger and Harrison presented staff proposals to the NIIC Program Committee for review, consultation and recommendation for approval. Upon approval, the Program Committee submitted the program to the NIIC Governing Board and the NAM Board of Directors. By 1944, the NIIC had expanded and staff operated the following departments: Mass Media (newspapers, radios, advertising, motion pictures, business extension); Group Relations (education, church, women’s clubs, agriculture, informational materials); Company Participation (public relations conferences, employee programs, speakers, stockholders, community relations); Regional Offices (in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, and San Francisco); and Fund-Raising. These departments reflected the wide-ranging activities of the NIIC.

To promote its private enterprise message, the NIIC operated extensive and detailed public relations campaigns. It published informational booklets, held public relations conferences and employee programs, sponsored press tours of defense industries across the country, and provided editorial material to newspapers. This included “Industrial Press Service,” a weekly clipsheet to daily and weekly newspapers; “Briefs for Broadcasters,” human interest stories about industry, syndicated to radio commentators; study material for schools; a library of motion pictures shorts; “Service for Plant Publication,” a monthly guide-sheet for industrial editors; and special speakers for foremen’s meetings.

The NIIC also produced publications such as booklets, posters, and pamphlets promoting the American business system. During the war, as NIIC’s public relations activities increased, its publications stressed the patriotic contributions of business and sought to promote workplace discipline. “Bulletin Board” posters aimed at industrial workers stressed the negative aspects of tardiness and absenteeism and encouraged increased production. During World War II, one promotional event used to directly influence workers was the “Soldiers of Production” rallies. Created by the NIIC in 1943 to stimulate employer-employee relations and boost employee morale, the thirty-minute rallies combined patriotic music and a pro-industry message and were held in industrial plants on company time. Like the posters, the rallies were designed to increase production, lower absenteeism, and impress workers with teamwork, pride in one’s job, and appreciation of one’s company and its products.

Other NIIC promotions included travelling window displays for department stores; conferences for women’s, church, agricultural, and educational groups (referred to as “opinion molders”), and movies. In 1944, the NIIC released “Three To Be Served,” a 27-minute film adaptation of Frederick C. Crawford’s Reader’s Digest article “Triangle of Plenty.” The triangle referred to the worker, consumer, and investor. The purpose of the film was to promote greater understanding of the problems and risks faced by management. After the film’s premiere, it was released theatrically and was made available to “opinion molding” groups.

By late 1944, there was growing dissatisfaction with the program’s direction among NIIC members and it was decided that changes were needed. Some subscribers were particularly irritated by the NIIC booklet and advertising campaign “How Americans Can Earn More, Buy More, Have More.” The promotion’s contention was that business would pledge a fair-wage policy and provide jobs, which in turn would provide the worker with income to purchase goods, stimulating production. The NIIC decided to use this approach in advertising after studying opinion poll results indicating that Americans’ main post-war concerns were jobs and unemployment, and that the public preferred government, not business leadership, in post-war planning. The “Earn More, Buy More, Have More” campaign attempted to demonstrate that the management of private enterprise was taking aggressive action to solve specific economic problems. This was a departure from the NIIC’s usual strategy centering on the promotion of the theory of free enterprise and the invisible hand of the marketplace.

The proposed advertising campaign and the concern of some of NAM’s members about increasing staff size and expenditures precipitated the NIIC’s reorganization. The NAM Executive Committee appointed a special NAM-NIIC subcommittee in December 1944 to study the organizational and functional relationship between NAM and NIIC. Also known as the Wampler Committee after its chairman, Cloud Wampler (1895-1973) (president of Carrier Corporation), the committee’s report of April 1945 recommended a reorganization of and reduction in the NIIC and changes in the organizational setup of NAM. The report was approved by both the NAM Executive Committee and Board of Directors.

The reorganization merged the once-separate public relations activities of NAM and NIIC into one Public Relations Division. The public relations program was strictly a NAM effort, not an all-business program, and was entirely financed by NAM members, specifically representing industry’s viewpoint. With the NIIC reorganization in 1945, its sole responsibility became fund raising for NAM’s public relations work.

Although the NIIC’s role was reduced to fund raising, its subscribers continued to provide money for public information and education programs through 1947. The NAM was concerned with the post-war economy, and in part through its public relations programs, played a key role in building support for the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947 which limited organized labor’s political and economic influence. The NIIC was discontinued in 1948.

The NIIC had performed an important function for business, and especially manufacturing. During the Depression, it presented a positive image of private enterprise, and during World War II it highlighted the patriotic contributions of business. Throughout its existence, the NIIC reflected businesses’ opposition to increasing government regulation.