William Becker

Professor of History and International Affairs

Chair, Department of History

William H. Becker teaches and writes about business history, business-government relations, and the institutions of the international economy. He is the coauthor of a forthcoming book, Eisenhower and the Cold War Economy: Economic Policy Making in the 1950s. His media appearances have included National Public Radio, the Voice of America, and the International Herald Tribune Television. (Complete C.V.)

Selected Publications

The Dynamics of Business-Government Relations: Industry and Exports, 1893-1921. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.

Economics and World Power: An Assessment of American Diplomacy Since 1789. New York: Columbia University Press, 1984. Co-edited with Samuel F. Wells, Jr.

From the Atlantic to the Great Lakes: A History of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Washington, DC: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 1984.

Editor, The Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography, 9 Volumes. New York: Bruccoli-Clark-Layman and Facts on File, Inc., 1986-94.

Bankers With a Mission: The Presidents of the World Bank, 1946-1991. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Co-authored with Jochen Kraske, Louis Galambos, and William Diamond.

Voice of the Marketplace: A History of the National Petroleum Council. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003. Co-authored with Joseph A. Pratt and William M. McClenahan, Jr.

The Market, the State, and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, 1934-2000. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Co-authored with William M. McClenahan, Jr.

Courses Taught

Hist 199: Undergraduate Thesis Seminar
Hist 220: American Business History
Hist 297: History of the International Economic System

Education

Ph.D., The Johns Hopkins University, 1969.