In July 1969 the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee met to reconvene its hearings on conglomerate corporations. The guests that day were the top executives at Gulf & Western Industries, a company that, just over a decade earlier, had been a middling auto parts manufacturer with $8 million in total sales. Eleven years, 127 mergers, and two name changes later, Gulf & Western had morphed into a sprawling empire with a cornucopia of products—from paint pigment and traffic lights to soul records and cigars—amounting to more than $1.3 billion in annual sales. Speaking on behalf of the firm, the Gulf & Western president David Judelson framed his opening statement with a series of rhetorical questions: “What is Gulf & Western? Who is Gulf & Western? How and why has Gulf & Western developed?” His response was that the firm represented something altogether new in American life: a corporation that made diversification—the act of branching out into many unrelated fields—its foundational premise. True, this process required an aggressive acquisitions stance, but the end result was something of value: “a federation of small-, medium-, and large-sized corporations.” After hours of testimony, the subcommittee chair Emanuel Celler remained unconvinced. “Are you familiar with [Wolfgang Amadeus] Mozart's opera Don Giovanni,” he asked the Gulf & Western chief executive Charles Bluhdorn. The Viennese émigré was not, but he quipped that perhaps Paramount Pictures, a Gulf & Western subsidiary, could make a film version. Unamused, Celler described a scene in which Giovanni's servant was asked how many mistresses the legendary Lothario kept; the servant responded by producing a chronicle that, when unfurled, spanned the entire stage. “I cannot help but make a comparison,” the chairman deadpanned, “between your Gulf & Western and Don Giovanni.”¹¹

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“一个整体的系统系统”：战后文化中的跨国集团和技术专家

1969 年 7 月，美国众议院司法反托拉斯小组委员会召开会议，重新召开关于联合企业的听证会。那天的客人是海湾与西部工业公司的高管，这家公司在十多年前还是一家中等汽车零部件制造商，总销售额为 800 万美元。十一年，127 次合并和两次更名之后，Gulf & Western 已经变成了一个庞大的帝国，拥有丰富的产品——从油漆颜料和交通灯到灵魂唱片和雪茄——年销售额超过 13 亿美元。海湾与西部总裁大卫·朱德尔森（David Judelson）代表公司发言，在开幕词中提出了一系列反问：“海湾与西部是什么？海湾和西部是谁？海湾和 西方发达？” 他的回答是，这家公司代表了美国生活中全新的事物：一家以多元化（向许多不相关领域扩展的行为）为基本前提的公司。诚然，这个过程需要积极的收购立场，但最终的结果是有价值的：“一个由大中小型公司组成的联盟。” 经过数小时的证词，小组委员会主席伊曼纽尔·塞勒仍然不相信。“你熟悉 [沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯] 莫扎特的歌剧吗？“一个小型、中型和大型公司的联盟。” 经过数小时的证词，小组委员会主席伊曼纽尔·塞勒仍然不相信。“你熟悉 [沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯] 莫扎特的歌剧吗？“一个小型、中型和大型公司的联盟。” 经过数小时的证词，小组委员会主席伊曼纽尔·塞勒仍然不相信。“你熟悉 [沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯] 莫扎特的歌剧吗？唐乔瓦尼，”他问海湾与西部公司的首席执行官查尔斯布卢多恩。这位维也纳移民不是，但他打趣说，海湾和西部的子公司派拉蒙影业可能会制作电影版本。塞勒不以为意地描述了一个场景，其中乔瓦尼的仆人被问到传说中的洛塔里奥有多少情妇；仆人的回应是制作了一个编年史，当展开时，它跨越了整个舞台。“我忍不住要比较一下，”主席面无表情，“你们的海湾与西部和唐璜。” ¹¹