The Pinkerton Pause: how opposition to pinkertonism delayed the advent of the privatized security state

Abstract

ABSTRACT Why has the privatization of US national security been a feature of recent history? Scholars have pointed to the need for rapid security expansion post 9/11 and to changes in economic and political ideology. As a supplementary reason, this article proposes the ending of the ‘Pinkerton Pause’, 1893–1977. Following the Homestead debacle of 1892, Congress passed the Anti-Pinkerton Act, banning detective agencies from federal service and effectively inhibiting the privatization of national security. Attempts at repeal failed. However, the US Court of Appeals Equifax decision of 1977 prepared the way for change.