The Big Sale: Elk Hills, the Energy Crisis, and the Invention of the Neoliberal Market, 1969-1998

In 1912, the wealth of Southern California’s Elk Hill oil fields spurred President Taft to designate the region as a Naval Petroleum preserve, setting it aside as a military resource for future emergencies. The fields went untapped until the energy crisis of the 1970s, and were sold to a private company in 1997 for $3.65 billion — to this day, the highest selling price for a piece of public property in American history. Case history professor Peter Shulman, an expert in science and technology in twentieth century American politics, will discuss the significance of the Elk Hill reserve divestiture within the rising tide of neoliberalism, free-market economics, and governmental withdrawal from the private economy. Part of the Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities lecture series, the event takes place at 4:30 p.m. in Clark Hall Room 206. Admission is free. (Lawrence Neil) case.edu/humanities.