Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • November 2014
  • Case
  • HBS Case Collection

Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang

By: Tom Nicholas and Jonas Peter Akins
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:23
ShareBar

Abstract

Napalm is one of the most destructive weapons ever to be invented. Yet, at its original inception it was nothing more than a technical challenge, and it was never intended to be used in indiscriminate antipersonnel warfare. The pathway of its development by a Harvard research scientist to its use in flamethrowers by U.S. ground troops in World War II, and as an incendiary device during the Vietnam War (1959–75) was unanticipated. Many of the early technical challenges associated with Napalm were solved by experimentation under the guidance of the National Defense Research Committee (NDRC), created to coordinate scientific research into the problems of modern warfare. Because the government needed private contractors to manufacture Napalm, it turned to several companies with experience in chemicals manufacturing. One in particular—The Dow Chemical Company—bore the brunt of the moral opprobrium associated with the production of Napalm.

Keywords

Moral Sensibility; War; Chemicals; Research and Development; Chemical Industry; Viet Nam; Cambridge; United States

Citation

Nicholas, Tom, and Jonas Peter Akins. "Napalm: From Soldiers Field to Trang Bang." Harvard Business School Case 815-060, November 2014.
  • Educators
  • Purchase

About The Author

Tom Nicholas

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States

    By: Tom Nicholas
    • August 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Air Wars: Deregulating the U.S. Airline Industry

    By: Tom Nicholas and James Weber
    • July 2022
    • Faculty Research

    A Soul and a Service: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance

    By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko
More from the Authors
  • Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States By: Tom Nicholas
  • Air Wars: Deregulating the U.S. Airline Industry By: Tom Nicholas and James Weber
  • A Soul and a Service: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College