International Trucks is one of several brands owned by Navistar International Corporation. The company has its roots in a 1902 merger of the Deering Harvester Company and the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, resulting in the formation of the International Harvester Company. Over the next 75 years, the company evolved into manufacturing farming equipment, construction equipment, gas turbines, trucks, buses, and related components. During World War II, International Harvester made the M-series of military trucks serving the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy.
In the failing agricultural economy of the 1980s, International Harvester fell on hard times and by 1986, had sold everything but the Truck and Engine divisions. At that time, the name was changed to Navistar International Corporation, and the International Trucks brand was created to produce a variety of medium-duty, over-the-road, and severe-service trucks.