Friends in High Places

Founded by self-made millionaire Warren A. Bechtel as a risk-taking construction and engineering firm, the multibillion-dollar, multinational conglomerate is responsible for constructing the Hoover Dam, laying the Alaskan oil pipeline, and building half of the world’s nuclear power plants, for starters. But Bechtel did not complete these ambitious projects on its own; it did so with the help of such “friends” as Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Dwight Eisenhower, and former employees George Shultz and Caspar Weinberger. Bechtel’s access to high-ranking government officials is unparalleled in the private sector. And with that access comes the temptation to accept favors and influence policy. Business journalist Laton McCartney combines painstaking research and powerful reporting to tell here, for the first time, the explosive inside story of what really goes on at the company that changed the face of the globe. “McCartney has made an important contribution to understanding a powerful U.S. corporation and American business history.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer