BOOK REVIEW
BY MICHAEL A. MARTORELLI
The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry By Tevi Troy Regnery History, 2024 278 pages
It needs to be said at the outset that Elon Musk’ s relationship with President Donald Trump is breaking new ground in showing how corporate Chief Executive Officers( CEOs) can interact with sitting presidents. Anyone doubting the historic importance of a good working relationship between people in those positions should read Tevi Troy’ s The Power and the Money. Its core message is simple: Presidents and CEOs have been working closely with each other( some would say using each other for their own purposes) for decades. The reason for CEO / presidential interactions seems clear. Over time, the federal government has become increasingly involved in the activities of many industries. To many CEOs’ displeasure, its behavior has often taken the form of laws or regulations aimed at restricting the impact of innovative corporate activities.
The book proceeds across time from the 1870s to the 2020s as Troy follows 28 presidents’ interactions with 18 CEOs. Each chapter describes several presidents’ dealings with multiple CEOs. Troy provides some interesting insight into the presidents’ reasons for seeking those collaborations. He also tells how various CEOs used their influence with presidents to shape certain federal policies to benefit their firms. It is clear that some relationships were quite hostile( President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Henry Luce), while others were unusually chummy( President Ronald Reagan and Jack Welch). The even-handed author describes both successful and unsuccessful episodes of presidential / CEO interplay. He notes that many CEOs with long tenure in office have had both, and often with presidents of both political parties.
Several chapters tell how CEOs such as John D. Rockefeller, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates had little or no interest in working with the occupants of the White House while pursuing their companies’ profitmaking agendas. Troy does note, however, that Jobs’ successor, Tim Cook, and Gates’ acolyte, Mark Zuckerburg, saw the wisdom of establishing a cordial relationship with Washington very early in their tenures. He also traces the evolution of Lew Wasserman from a CEO who paid little attention to Washington as he built his business to one who became particularly adept at convincing presidents to do his bidding.
Every reader will have a favorite story that exemplifies the quid pro quo behavior of presidents and CEOs. This reviewer was particularly struck by the running narrative detailing several presidents’ interactions with Lee Iacocca. In 1971, at the urging of the Ford Motor Company executive, President Richard Nixon delayed the introduction of air bags in cars by more than a decade. Nine years later, President Jimmy Carter supported the Chrysler Corporation CEO’ s request for a $ 1.5 billion bailout, i. e., loan guarantee package. Just three years later, President Ronald Reagan refused that same CEO’ s request to cancel the warrants attached to that package. It is easy to agree with Troy’ s suggestion that Iacocca is emblematic of the modern CEO who initially wants the federal government to stay off his company’ s back and later decides he wants that same government on his side.
Because Troy’ s narrative is focused on the presidents, his chapters follow their time in office rather than the tenures of the CEOs. So it takes several chapters to discover the full extent of presidential interactions with long-tenured CEOs— fully half of the executives he discusses in the book. The story that suffers most from this treatment is Troy’ s description of the federal government’ s interest in Microsoft from the introduction of MS-DOS in 1981 to the years after Bill Gates’ retirement as CEO in 2000.
Despite the book’ s subtitle, none of its stories describe what could universally be considered“ Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry.” But that does not mean The Power and the Money should be ignored. Indeed, it should be savored and appreciated for providing some historical context to the motives and interactions of presidents and CEOs alike.
Michael A. Martorelli is a Director Emeritus at Fairmount Partners in Radnor, Pennsylvania, and a frequent contributor to Financial History. He received his MA in History from American Military University.
42 FINANCIAL HISTORY | Spring 2025 | www. MoAF. org