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Arsenal of Democracy

"The U.S. built 300,000 airplanes in World War II, 50 percent more than Germany, Japan and Italy combined. Watch this video to see how this and other American wartime manufacturing miracles were performed. Lead museum docent Les Doggrell starts by telling us that while the Great Depression had slowed many American industries, they weren't dead. Even in 1938, with war clouds gathering in the Pacific and Europe, the U.S. produced more steel than Germany and mined almost double the amount of coal. On the other hand, with many factories still idle there was a big reserve of industrial equipment and unemployed citizens available for immediate work. By May 1940, Les says, President Roosevelt called for a reinvigoration of manufacturing for what he saw as the coming war. He urged Congress to increase military funding from $24 million to $700 million, saying, “I should like to see this nation geared up to the ability to turn out at least 50,000 planes a year.” Roosevelt knew businesses would have to transform to meet his goals so he recruited business leaders who knew how to build complex products quickly and in large numbers. He started with William Knudsen, President of General Motors. Knudsen assembled a team of industrialists to work out the problems of mass-producing aircraft and other military goods. Knudsen also promoted policies that would make companies more willing to do business with the government. He and his team were able to get companies like automaker Chrysler to invest millions in new facilities to produce tanks and anti-aircraft guns. Ford built a mile-long assembly line to manufacture B-24 bombers. Henry Kaiser set up a series of shipyards on the Pacific coast that turned out cargo ships at a record rate. But before all that, around the time of Pearl Harbor in 1941, it was a challenge to find enough workers to do the job. Many young men were drafted. Two key groups, women and African Americans, helped close the gap. “Rosie the Riveter” was popularized in songs and illustrations. Many African Americans took jobs in manufacturing. By the end of the war in 1945, the U.S. had turned out 300,000 aircraft, including 96,000 bombers, and billions of dollars’ worth of equipment and supplies to field a truly global fighting force. American society had also changed in remarkable ways. In short, Les tells us how U.S. industry, in cooperation with the federal government, supplied not only the largest American fighting force of the war but those of many U.S. Allies as well."