Facts to Defend American Democracy: Willford Isbell King's National Income Estimates and the Beginnings of the NBER

Abstract The desire to place public opinion on a rational footing through the production and communication of objective, impartial information fostered the development of statistical estimates of national income in the 1910s and 1920s. This article explores the case of Willford I. King, who made notable contributions to income estimation and was hired by Wesley C. Mitchell in 1920 at the founding of the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). King's immediate hiring and association with the NBER is puzzling, considering the striking contrast between his early reputation as a controversial conservative author and the bureau's efforts to establish a reputation for impartiality and objectivity. The article addresses this puzzle. It shows how King's political-cum-scientific project converged with that of the leading founder of the NBER, Malcom C. Rorty, to produce scientific income estimates to debunk socialist theses and defend American democracy. Their twofold project placed the communication of factual knowledge to the general public at its heart. Tensions between scientific and popularization objectives eventually created insuperable difficulties.