The U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest lobbying group in the United States. The group was founded in April 1912 from local chambers of commerce at the insistence of President William Howard Taft and his Secretary of Commerce and Labor Charles Nagel. Taft believed that “the government should deal with a group that can speak authoritatively for business.”
The US Chamber of Commerce claims to represent 3 million companies, but this claim is often disputed. It is funded mainly by multinational corporations.
The current president and CEO of the Chamber is Suzanne P. Clark. She previously worked at the Chamber from 1997 to 2007 and returned in 2014, holding several leadership positions before being named the organization’s first female CEO in February 2021.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce was founded at a meeting of delegates on April 22, 1912. An important catalyst for the creation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was two previous business agreements between the United States and Japan. In 1908, Eiichi Shibusawa invited the first official modern US business delegation to visit Japan. This delegation was headed by the prominent banker/economist Frank A. Vanderlip and accompanied by sixty business representatives from the West Coast states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The goal was to establish diplomatic ties between their countries and promote business and trade growth.
Night view of the Chamber of Commerce building, c. 1924.
In 1909, in gratitude for the hospitality shown to the 1908 Vanderlip business delegation during their visit to Japan, Japanese businessmen were invited to visit the United States. This invitation came from the Associated Chambers of Commerce of the Pacific Coast, whose membership included eight major cities from the western coastal states of California, Oregon, and Washington. The Japanese accepted their invitation, and in 1909, Shibusawa, accompanied by his delegation of more than fifty of Japan’s most prominent business leaders and prominent personalities, visited 53 cities in America over the course of three months.
Their travels were covered in many newspapers as they traveled in a specially equipped “million dollar train” provided by the American industrial community. The U.S. government recognized the importance of their visit and sent U.S. representatives to accompany and assist them during the trip. Six representatives from the Associated Chambers of Commerce of the Pacific Coast also accompanied them to facilitate events along the way.
Their meetings have included many chambers of commerce, tours of factories, power plants, fire departments, port facilities, mines, farms, schools, universities, libraries, theaters, churches, hospitals, and many other sites. Their main goals are to develop friendship and familiarity between the two nations, while encouraging bilateral trade and commerce. An important impact of their visit was that it united the chambers of commerce in the United States, which likely prompted them to recognize the benefits of forming a national organization. President Taft was one of the U.S. leaders Shibusawa and his delegates met with during their visit.
The Chamber was created by President Taft as a counterweight to the labor movement of the time. John H. Fahey was the first chairman, and Harry A. Wheeler was the first president, with Elliot Hersey Goodwin as the first secretary. It opened its first office in the Evans Building. In 1913, President Taft spoke at the first banquet at the Willard Hotel, where he urged the organization to lobby for comprehensive currency legislation and support the Commission on Economy and Efficiency. During the first year of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s existence, the membership consisted of 297 commercial organizations and 165,000 firms and individuals. The U.S. Chamber’s staff grew dramatically in just ten years after its creation. In 1912, there were only four employees. By 1921, however, the number of employees had grown to three hundred.
During a 1919 U.S. Chamber board meeting, Harry A. Wheeler proposed an idea that surprised many in the Chamber itself. The idea was to create a national headquarters. During this proposal, Wheeler stated that the Board of Directors should take this vote very seriously when deciding whether or not to establish a national headquarters, as it would have to pay for it with its own money. Nevertheless, the Board of Directors did not hesitate to respond and began the process of establishing the headquarters. Wheeler and Edson had already planned the location of the headquarters. The location was across from the White House on the corner of Lafayette Square. The only thing that prevented them from building was two 19th century mansions: the Corcoran House and the Slidell House. Nevertheless, the mansions were purchased for $775 thousand.
The headquarters of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., occupies the land that used to be Daniel Webster’s home.