I don't know if this was legally enforceable, but I have heard that the existence of Bell Labs was essentially a quid pro quo with the federal government in exc

I don't know if this was legally enforceable, but I have heard that the existence of Bell Labs was essentially a quid pro quo with the federal government in exchange for being granted a regulated monopoly on phone service. More generally, I have heard that corporate executives in the golden age of American industry had more of a sense that they owed a debt to the public for all the free stuff they had been given (cost plus defense contracts, government R&D, radio and TV frequencies, ect.). I think there are some rose-tinted glasses involved in that analysis, but it was probably part of it.