What Alan Reynolds Said That Once Quieted Protectionist Lee Iacocca

Lee Iacocca

Don Boudreaux writes about the recently passed former chairman of the Chrysler Corporation, Lee Iacocca:

Americans who can remember as far back as the 1980s remember Iacocca as a fierce and frequent proponent of government-imposed restraints on Americans who chose to purchase cars made in Japan (at least if these vehicles were not sold under the Chrysler label!).

In a comment to a David Henderson piece on Iacocca (In Memory of Crony Capitalist Lee Iacocca), Alan Reynolds writes:

I once met Mr. Iaccoca at small private dinner hosted, as I recall, by the American Farm Bureau Federation.  He was going on at length about the unfairness of having to compete with Japanese cars.  I remarked that Chrysler would have gone out of business if he hadn’t gotten into bed with Mitsubishi  to supply V-6 engines and even complete cars (including a Dodge Challenger).  Iacocca did not dispute my comment and, in fact, got pretty quiet after that.

I owned a 1991 Dodge Stealth, which was 100% Japanese/Mitsubishi.  I doubt if even the “Dodge” logo was made in the USA.

Iacocca hated Japanese competition and always called for government intervention to hamper Japanese auto sales in the US.

First three minutes:



-RW