The DuPont Corporation, one of the oldest industrial companies in the United States, helped develop and produce nuclear weapons during the arms race of the cold war, in addition to providing the public with many consumer goods.
The DuPont Corporation was founded in Delaware in 1802 by Eleuthere Irenee du Pont to produce black powder, and later, other explosives. As blasting powders became more important, the company produced “soda powder,” the first industrial explosive, in 1857. When three of du Pont’s great-grandsons acquired full ownership of the company in 1902, they introduced the basic hierarchical structure associated with the modern corporation. Having been forced by the U. S. government to divest part of its manufacturing capacity in 1912, because it was considered a monopoly, DuPont diversified, acquiring a 25 percent stake in General Motors.
In the 1920s, following DuPont’s invention of nylon, the main focus of production shifted to textiles and chemicals. Some products included plastics, photographic film, and agricultural chemicals. The company developed synthetics like Lucite, Teflon, Orlon, Mylar, Kevlar, and Dacron.
At the onset of the cold war, federally funded nuclear research linked the company to university scientists who could further the development of nuclear weapons. As the cold war unfolded, an ever-tighter relationship among scientists, corporations, and the military developed. After the Soviet Union detonated an atomic bomb in 1949, the United States built a number of nuclear centers, such as Livermore Laboratory near San Francisco, which supplemented a similar facility at Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Meanwhile, in 1950 DuPont assumed responsibility for a new plant in South Carolina intended to produce nuclear materials for hydrogen bombs. In so doing, it became an important part of the military-industrial complex, which President Dwight D. Eisenhower warned Americans to be wary of in his farewell address in 1961. Nonetheless, DuPont found itself falling behind, as other industries took the lead in cold war research. DuPont, still committed to the chemical field, was unable to hire the researchers it needed.
During the 1960s, DuPont introduced Lycra brand spandex, which was popular as colorful swimwear material. DuPont introduced electronic materials, too, but the company concentrated on consumer items that featured Nomex and Kevlar brand fibers.
In the 1980s, DuPont acquired Conoco Inc., an oil firm later sold in 1999. Concentrating on the biological sciences and their expansion, DuPont purchased the biotechnology company Pioneer Hi-Bred International in 1998 for $7.7 billion.
Further reading: David A. Hounshell, Science and Corporate Strategy: Dupont R&D, 1902-1980 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989); Graham D. Taylor and Patricia E. Sudnik, DuPont and the International Chemical Industry (Boston: Twayne, 1984).
—John E. Bibish IV
Dylan, Bob (1941- ) singer, songwriter Bob Dylan is one of the most influential songwriters in the history of American music. His folk rock music was the voice of the youth in America during the 1960s.
Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. He began writing poetry, which he later set to Music, at the age of 10. He taught himself both electric and acoustic guitar during his early teen years, along with the piano. During high school, he formed many rock bands, playing songs from his earliest influences such as Elvis Presley, Little Richard, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Upon graduation from high school in 1959, Dylan attended the University of Minnesota in St. Paul.
During his time in St. Paul, Dylan focused mainly on his songwriting and performing at local clubs in a part of the city called Dinkytown. Soon Dylan lost all interest in his studies, and by 1960, he had left St. Paul for life on the East Coast. Dylan had heard of the folk movement in Greenwich Village in New York City, and he moved there to join it.
Bob Dylan, 1967 (Library of Congress)
Upon arriving in New York, Dylan fulfilled a lifelong dream of meeting folk legend Woody Guthrie. Dylan visited the ailing Guthrie on a regular basis and sang Guthrie his songs. At the same time, Dylan was successful on the club circuit in the Village. Soon he was playing in the student center at Columbia University.
In 1961, he officially changed his name from Zimmerman to Dylan, broke out of the folk circle, and began to expand into other types of music. He played harmonica on a Harry Belafonte album, and he even sang solo in Carnegie Hall. Though only 53 people, mostly close friends, showed up, his review in the New York Times was outstanding, and it led to a contract with Columbia Records.
The following year, Dylan released his first album, which featured only two original songs. Though the album was not a success, Dylan’s distinct singing voice and acoustic guitar work were widely noted by critics. His next album, released in 1963, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, was a huge success, with songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”
The Times They Are A-Changin’ promoted a new message. Dylan had grown tired of being the poster boy for the EOLK Music revival, and he wanted out. Dylan reaffirmed this growing separation from the movement with the album Another Side of Bob Dylan and the song “It Ain’t Me Babe,” in which he explained he was not the leader young people were searching for. Meanwhile, Dylan had gotten involved with Joan Baez, one of folk music’s biggest names. This relationship, though it did not last long, proved beneficial to both Dylan and Baez. He used her previous fame and connections to further his music, and Baez used some of his unreleased songs.
By 1965, the relationship between Baez and Dylan was fading, and it was time for yet another change in Dylan’s music. He released the album Bringing It All Back Home, a half-acoustic, half-electric collection that was mostly rejected by his folk fans, but it was a success on all other fronts. The acoustic song “Mr. Tambourine Man” was released on the album, and The Byrds soon picked it up and made it a hit in an upbeat, electric version. After this album was released, Dylan played at the Newport Folk Festival using his electric guitar, and he was booed off the stage by his folk fans. Dylan formed a new fan base, outside the folk movement, that came from the youth of the COUNTERCULTURE. His songs conveyed social messages and spoke out against U. S. involvement in Vietnam. Many young people embraced his music and its message of peace.
After breaking with Baez, Dylan married Sara Lowndes. He and Sara immediately had children, and Dylan continued to work, releasing two more albums, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. Not long after, Dylan was injured in a motorcycle accident, and this changed his musical agenda again. After the accident, he recovered in seclusion with his family in Woodstock, New York. Dylan did not tour again for eight years. In 1967, he released John Wesley Harding, which had a country sound. In 1968, he played at a Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert. He returned to the privacy of his home and to his family after the concert.
Dylan has gone on to release several more albums, which contain some of his biggest hits. He began to tour again in the early 1970s, and he continues to tour, singing his classics from his early years and new songs that he has recently composed.
Further reading: Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2005); Clinton Heylin, Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments: Day by Day, 19411995 (New York: Prentice Hall International, 1996); Bob Spitz, Dylan: A Biography (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1989).
—Matthew Escovar
World History
