Thomas Heinrich

Professor

Weissman School of Arts and Sciences

Department: History

Areas of expertise: Business and Naval History

Email Address: thomas.heinrich@baruch.cuny.edu

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Thomas Heinrich is chair of the Department of History and specializes in business and naval history. His book publications include Warship Builders: An Industrial History of U.S. Naval Shipbuilding, 1922-1945 (Annapolis, MD, 2020) and A Concise American History (Oxford, UK, 2020), co-written with David Brown, Simon Middleton, and Vivien Miller. Born and raised in Germany, Heinrich received his BA equivalent in European social history from the University of Bielefeld, his MA in US social history from SUNY Buffalo, and his PhD in US business and labor history from the University of Pennsylvania. His teaching and research interests are industrial and technology history, World War II, naval history, and the cold war.

Education

Ph.D., History, University of Pennsylvania

M.A., History, SUNY Buffalo

B.A., History, University of Bielefeld, Germany

SemesterCourse PrefixCourse NumberCourse Name
Spring 2024HIS3430World War II: A Global History
Fall 2023HIS3430World War II: A Global History
Spring 2023HIS3390Naval Battles and Society
Fall 2022HIS3430World War II: A Global History
Spring 2022HIS3390Naval Battles and Society
Fall 2021JWS3950Special Topics in Jewish Studi
Fall 2021HIS3950Special Topics in Global Histo
Spring 2021HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Fall 2020HIS3430World War II: A Global History
Spring 2020HIS3390Naval Battles and Society
Fall 2019HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Spring 2019HIS3390Naval Battles and Society
Fall 2018HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2018HIS3460Topics in American History
Spring 2018HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2018HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Fall 2017HIS3390Naval Battles and Society
Fall 2017HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2016HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Spring 2016HIS3460Topics in American History
Spring 2016HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2016HIS6002HHonors - History II
Fall 2015HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2015HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2015HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2015HIS6001HHistory - Honors I
Spring 2015HIS6002HHonors - History II
Spring 2015HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2015HIS3460Topics in American History
Spring 2015HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2015HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2014HIS6001HHistory - Honors I
Fall 2014HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Fall 2014HIS3460Topics in American History
Fall 2014HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2014HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2014HIS3460Topics in American History
Fall 2013HIS3460Topics in American History
Fall 2013HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2013HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2013HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2013HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2013HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Fall 2012HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Fall 2012HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2012HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2012HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2012HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2012HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2011HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2011HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2011HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2011HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Fall 2010HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2010HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2009HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Spring 2009HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2008HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2008HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2008HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2008HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2007HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2007IDC4050HHon Feit Hum Sem I
Fall 2007HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2007HIS5000Independent Study History I
Spring 2007HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2007HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Spring 2007HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2006HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2006HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2006HIS4900Capstone: Search His
Spring 2006HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2005HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2005HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Fall 2005HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2005HIS3460Topics in American History
Spring 2005HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2004HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Fall 2004HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2004HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2004HIS5100History Internship
Spring 2004HIS3460Topics in American History
Spring 2004HIS2053Recent America, 1945 to the Present
Spring 2004HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2004HIS5000Independent Study History I
Fall 2003HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Fall 2003HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2003HIS1005Modern American History
Spring 2003HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Spring 2003HIS2053Recent America, 1945 to the Present
Spring 2003HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Fall 2002HIS6001Honors Program
Fall 2002AMS4900Topics in American Studies
Fall 2002HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2002HIS3460Topics in American History
Fall 2002HIS5000Independent Study History I
Fall 2002HIS5100History Internship
Fall 2002HIS1005HHon Modern Amer Hist
Spring 2002HIS3410Amer Business Hist
Spring 2002HIS2053Recent America, 1945 to the Present
Spring 2002HIS2053Recent America, 1945 to the Present
Fall 2001HIS2053Recent America, 1945 to the Present
Fall 2001HIS1005Modern American History
Fall 2001HIS2053Recent America, 1945 to the Present

Books

Heinrich, T. (2020). Warship Builders: An Industrial History of U.S. Naval Shipbuilding, 1922-1945. (p. 450). Annapolis, Md., US, Naval Institute Press.

Brown, D., Heinrich, T., Middleton, S., & Miller, V. (2020). Chapter 13 to 17. (p. 240). Oxford, United Kingdom, Routledge.

Heinrich, T., & Batchelor, B. (2004). Kleenex, Kotex, Huggies: Kimberly-Clark and the Consumer Revolution in American Business. (p. 360). Columbus, Ohio, US, Ohio State University Press.

Heinrich, T. (1997). Ships for the Seven Seas: Philadelphia Shipbuilding in the Age of Industrial Capitalism. (p. 290). Baltimore, MD, Johns Hopkins University Press.

Journal Articles

Heinrich, T. (2014). “’Fighting Ships, Knowledge, and Experience:’ Industrial Mobilization in American Naval Shipbuilding, 1940–1945,”. Business History Review, 88(Summer). 273-301.

Heinrich, T. (2012). We Can Build Anything at Navy Yards:' Warship Construction in Government Yards and the Political Economy of American Naval Shipbuilding, 1928-1945. International Journal of Maritime History, XXIV(2). 155-180.

Heinrich, T. (2010). Jack of All Trades: Cramp Shipbuilding, Mixed Production, and the Limits of Flexible Specialization in American Warship Construction, 1940–1945. Enterprise & Society, 11(2). 275-315.

(2002). Cold War Armory: Military Contracting and Industrial Development in Silicon Valley. Enterprise and Society ( Oxford University Press), 3. 247-84.

(2001). Product Diversification in the U.S. Pulp and Paper Industry: The Case of International Paper. Business History Review (Harvard Business School Press), 75. 467-505.

Book Chapters

Heinrich, T. (2007). Multinational Corporations in the North American Paper Industry: International Paper and the Rise of Canadian Newsprint. In Bonin, H., & Bouneau, C. (Eds.), Transnational Companies: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (pp. 655-77). Paris, France. Plage, Collection Ecolio.

Presentations

Heinrich, T. (2019, July 5). Industrial Mobilization in American Naval Shipbuilding: Disintegrated Production in World War II. Annual Meeting. Sheffield, UK: Association of Business Historians.

Heinrich, T. (2019, November 2). Shipyard Housing in Newport News, Virginia: Company Towns, Race, and Industrial Unionism, 1880-1945. Annual Meeting. Arlington, VA: Society for American City and Regional Planning History.

Heinrich, T. (2018, March 12). The Cold War, 1945-1989. Cold War Workshop. New York: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Heinrich, T. (2018, June 30). Financing the Navy: The US Congress and the Navy Department between the Wars. Association of Business Historians Annual Conference 2018. Milton Keynes, UK: Association of Business Historians.

Heinrich, T. (2017, November 8). Science and Technology in the Cold War. Cold War Workshop. New York: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Heinrich, T. (2017, August 1). World War II and the Early Cold War. World War II and Cold War Workshop. New York: Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Heinrich, T. (2017, March 19). Schuss- und Sektionsbau in der U-Boot-herstellung von 1934 bis 1945. Amerikanische und deutsche Konstruktionspraktiken im Vergleich. Von der Kogge zum Containerschiff Lessons learnt - Best practices. Duisburg, Germany: DGSM Deutsche Gesellschaft für Schiffahrts- und Marinegeschichte e.V..

Heinrich, T. (2016, January 22). American Naval Shipbuilding in World War II. New York Military Affairs Symposium. New York: New York Military Affairs Symposium.

Heinrich, T. (2015, October 1). Steel, Ships and Naval Supremacy. National Iron & Steel Museum Seminar Series. Coatesville, PA: National Iron & Steel Museum.

Heinrich, T. (2015, April 18). “With All Deliberate Speed: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Naval Rearmament, 1933-1940". Statesmen and Seapower Conference. Liverpool, UK: National Museum of the Royal Navy.

Heinrich, T. (2012, June 20). “Building the Two-Ocean Navy: U.S. Naval Construction in World War II". International Maritime Economic History Association Conference. Ghent, Belgium: International Maritime Economic History Association.

Heinrich, T. (2012, March 15). U.S. Navy Yards during the New Deal and World War II”. Technology, Strategy, & Power Workshop. Yale University: International Security Studies.

Heinrich, T. (2012, March 29). “Industrial Mobilization of State-Owned Enterprise in World War II”. Business History Conference. Philadelphia: Business History Conference.

Heinrich, T. (2011, October 13). Business, Technology, and American Naval Shipbuilding, 1933-1945". Hagley Museum & Library Research Seminar Series. Wilmington, DE: Hagley Museum & Library.

Heinrich, T. (2010, November 1). • “Industrial Mobilization in Delaware Valley Shipbuilding, 1940-1945”. ISP Museum Seminar Series. Philadelphia: Independence Seaport Museum.

Heinrich, T. (2010, September 12). "’A Highly Specialized Art’: Cruiser and Aircraft Carrier Construction at New York Shipbuilding Corporation in World War II". 9th Maritime Heritage Conference. Baltimore: Maritime Heritage Conference.

Heinrich, T. (2001, June 30). Military Contracting and the Transformation of the U.S. Semiconductor Industry. Engineering Postwar Industry Conference. Wilmington, DE: Hagley Museum and Library.

Heinrich, T. (2001, October 31). The Beauty and the Beast? Semiconductor Technology and Cold War Weapons Production. Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology. San Jose, California

Heinrich, T. (2001, April 30). Globalization and the Transformation of Corporate Law Firms: The Case of Shearman and Sterling. Annual Meeting of the Business History Conference. Miami, FL

Heinrich, T. (2000, December 31). Enterprise:125 Years of Images from the Evolution of Business and the Law. 599 Lexington Ave., New York: Permanent exhibit at Shearman & Sterling.

Heinrich, T. (1998, April 30). Transatlantic Trade, Maritime Policy, and the Fall of the American Merchant Marine. Wilmington, DE: Hagley Museum and Library Research Colloquium.

Heinrich, T. (1995, November 30). Disintegrated Production and Family-Owned Business in the Gilded Age Shipbuilding Industry. Annual Meeting of the Social Science History Association. Chicago

Heinrich, T. (1993, August 31). Industrial Restructuring and the Decline of the Cramp Shipyard, 1900-1927. Annual Meeting of the International Working Group on Regional Restructuring. Osaka, Japan

Heinrich, T. (1993, October 31). The Workplace and New Technologies in the Philadelphia Shipbuilding Industry. Annual Meeting of the Society for the History of Technology. Washington, DC

Other Scholarly Works

Heinrich, T. (1998). Innovation by Consensus: ASTM's First Century. 80.

Heinrich, T., & Rumm, J. (1998). A Centennial History of International Paper. 201.

Reviews

Heinrich, T. (2018,November 9). Review of "Wartime Standard Ships". International Journal of Maritime History.

Heinrich, T. (2015,August 1). Review of "A Short History of Naval and Marine Engineering". International Journal of Maritime History.

Heinrich, T. (2011,November 1). Review of "32 in '44: Building the Portsmouth Submarine Fleet in World War II". Enterprise and Society.

Heinrich, T. (2011,April 1). Review of "Tirpitz: The Life and Death of Germany’s Last Super Battleship". Nautilus: Maritime Journal of Literature, History, and Culture.

Heinrich, T. (2001,January 1). Review of "The Philadelphia Navy Yard: From the Birth of the U.S. Navy to the Nuclear Age". Philadelphia: Enterprise & Society.

Heinrich, T. (2000,June 1). Review of Institutions in the Transport and Communications Industries: State and Private Actors in the Making of Institutional Patterns, 1850-1990. Oxford University Press: Enterprise & Society .

Research Currently in Progess

Heinrich, T.(n.d.). Cold War Naval Shipbuilding. In Progress.

My research plans reflect my longstanding interest in defense-related industrial history. I am currently preparing an article-length study of American and British armor production between the wars in collaboration with professor Chis Miller of Glasgow University for submission to a top-tier business history journal. Additionally, I am preparing a presentation on shipyard worker housing for the Society for American City and Regional Planning History Conference in Nov. 2019. More long-term, I am planning to write a book-length study of cold-war naval shipbuilding and missile production to elaborate themes I first explored in an article entitled “Cold War Armory: Military Contracting and Industrial Development in Silicon Valley,” published in Enterprise and Society in 2002. Major subjects to be researched include the design and construction of supercarriers, cruisers, destroyers, and submarines, the development of the Polaris, Poseidon, and Polaris sea-launched ballistic missile systems, the downsizing of navy-yard shipbuilding and concomitant privileging of the private sector which began during the McNamara era, capital-labor relations, and related topics.

TitleFunding Agency SponsorStart DateEnd DateAwarded DateTotal FundingStatus
Department Chair Research Account Year 1 - Thomas HeinrichPSC CUNY02/01/202108/31/202202/01/20211750Completed
Department Chair Research Account Year 2 - Thomas HeinrichPSC CUNY09/01/202108/31/202309/01/20213000Completed
Cold war naval procurement in the United States and Britain, 19450-1967PSC-CUNY 5107/01/202012/31/202204/17/20203500Completed
Maps and Index for Book Warship BuildersPSC-CUNY 5007/01/201912/31/202004/15/20193500Completed
American and British Naval Shipbuilding in World War IIPSC-CUNY 4707/01/201606/30/201704/15/20163480.65Completed
Building the Two-Ocean Navy: An Industrial History of American Naval Construction, 1940-1945PSC-CUNY 4007/01/200906/30/20103850Completed
Department Chair Research Account Year 4 Thomas HeinrichPSC CUNY09/01/202308/31/202508/31/20233000Funded - In Progress
Department Chair Research Account Year 3 - Thomas HeinrichPSC CUNY09/01/202208/31/202409/01/20223000Funded - In Progress
West German Naval Rearmament, 1950-1960PSC CUNY 5307/01/202212/31/202304/15/20223500Funded - In Progress
Honor / AwardOrganization SponsorDate ReceivedDescription
John Lyman Book AwardNorth American Society for Oceanic History2021-10-06
John Lyman book award in science and technology North American Society for Oceanic History 1997
Andrew W. Mellon Dissertation Fellowship (1992-1993)1993
Roy F. Nichols Dissertation Fellowship (1991-1992)1992
Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies Research Grant1988
SUNY Buffalo Graduate Research Fellowship

College

Committee NamePosition RoleStart DateEnd Date
WSAS P&B Committee Attendee, MeetingPresent
Departmental Peer Reading GroupCommittee ChairPresent
Department ChairCommittee ChairPresent
Executive CommitteeCommittee Member6/30/2018
Globus Lecture Organizer11/15/2017
College Personnel & Budget CommitteeCommittee Member8/30/2015
Ancient History Assistant Professor Search CommitteeCommittee Member12/31/2013
Faculty-Student Disciplinary CommiteeCommittee Chair12/31/2006
Departmetnt Planning CommitteeCommittee Member12/31/2001
Weissman School of Arts and Sciences Representative to the Business School 12/31/2001
Curricular development in American StudiesParticipant12/31/2000
Topics in American History honors courseParticipant12/31/2000
Computer TechnologyCoordinator12/31/1999
Millennium: Newsletter of the History Department of Baruch CollegeFaculty Coordinator12/31/1999

Public

OrganizationPosition RoleOrganization StateOrganization CountryStart DateEnd DateAudience
On-air interview with Philadelphia National Public Radio on The Future of the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard4/30/1999