America was shaped and defined through the basis of free enterprise. Long before America became a nation onto its own, it had already established a strong economy built on a solid foundation of free enterprise where any business had the right and the freedom to compete for profit with minimal government regulations and restrictions. Central to the idea of free enterprise is the freedom of entrepreneurs to bring new competition into any industry, freedom to succeed by offering consumers a better product, and the freedom to fail. Although most businesses claim to support free enterprise, few favor new competition in their own field. Preston Tucker was an innovative visionary who dreamt of building "the car of tomorrow" using cutting edge technology and design yet failed due to stiff opposition from major competitive automotive manufacturers and their political representatives. This can be clearly seen after examining the history of the Tucker Torpedo and the Tucker Corporation.

Preston Tucker envisioned a car that would revolutionize the automotive industry, yet soon realized that launching a major enterprise against the leading automotive companies, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysl

"You know, perhaps, that our bid on a government owned steel plant in Cleveland was recently refused...The bids were opened five month's ago. The Tucker Corporation's bid was high. If Tucker's bid had been accepted, it could have given taxpayers as much as four million dollars more for the plant than the steel company offered...This plant would provide ample raw material for volume production of the Tucker and would serve numerous small businesses now starving for steel...But who do you suppose is getting the raw material from this plant we want for Tucker and small businesses? None other than some well-known and unfriendly automotive manufactories."

As a result the Tucker Corporation could not find any raw materials to build a prototype from. Preston Tucker had no other solution other than to use scrap metal from junk cars. Spies were also introduced into the Tucker Corporation in hopes of leaking valuable information and gathering evidence. However, despite these obstacles, Preston Tucker and his team of designers and mechanics led by Alex Tremulis finished the prototype in time for the unveiling. The Big Three were temporarily defeated. The Tucker 48 got its publicity at the unveiling and the demand greatly rose. In an open letter, Preston Tucker wrote,

"There is another group, a very powerful group, which for the last two years has carried on a carefully organized campaign to prevent the motoring public from ever getting their hands on the wheel of a Tucker. These people have introduced spies into our plant. They have endeavored to bribe and corrupt loyal Tucker employees..."

"When I was a boy I read about Edison, Ford, the Wright brothers. They were my heroes. Rags to Riches wasn't just the name of a book. It was what this country was all about. We invented the free enterprise system, where anybody, no matter who he was, where he came from, what class he belonged to, if he came up with a bett

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Approximate Word count = 1298
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)