American Business and the Winning of World War II
FAIN: FB-56180-12
Mark Russell Wilson
University of North Carolina, Charlotte (Charlotte, NC 28223-0001)
This book project allows us to better understand the development of Americans' long-run struggles over the proper shape of the political economy by offering a major reinterpretation of the operations and effects of the largest, most complex economic project in history: the American industrial mobilization for World War II. Drawing on original research in a large number of business and military archives, the book project explains how private and public actors on the economic home front interacted to create the military power that allowed the Allies to win. In doing so, it traces the political struggles that accompanied this mobilization effort, which were marked by the business community's energetic wartime efforts to resist the expansion of state regulation and to associate production achievements with the superiority of private enterprise. The project shows how a public-private war effort could amplify an anti-statist politics that would endure and evolve for decades to come.
Associated Products
Destructive Creation: American Business and the Winning of World War II (Book)Title: Destructive Creation: American Business and the Winning of World War II
Author: Mark R. Wilson
Abstract: "During World War II, the United States helped vanquish the Axis powers by converting its enormous economic capacities into military might. Producing nearly two-thirds of all the munitions used by Allied forces, American industry became what President Franklin D. Roosevelt called "the arsenal of democracy." Crucial in this effort were business leaders. Some of these captains of industry went to Washington to coordinate the mobilization, while others led their companies to churn out weapons. In this way, the private sector won the war—or so the story goes.
Based on new research in business and military archives, Destructive Creation shows that the enormous mobilization effort relied not only on the capacities of private companies but also on massive public investment and robust government regulation. This public-private partnership involved plenty of government-business cooperation, but it also generated antagonism in the American business community that had lasting repercussions for American politics. Many business leaders, still engaged in political battles against the New Deal, regarded the wartime government as an overreaching regulator and a threatening rival. In response, they mounted an aggressive campaign that touted the achievements of for-profit firms while dismissing the value of public-sector contributions. This probusiness story about mobilization was a political success, not just during the war, but afterward, as it shaped reconversion policy and the transformation of the American military-industrial complex.
Offering a groundbreaking account of the inner workings of the "arsenal of democracy," Destructive Creation also suggests how the struggle to define its heroes and villains has continued to shape economic and political development to the present day."
Year: 2016
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
Type: Single author monograph
ISBN: 9780812248333
Copy sent to NEH?: Yes
Prizes
The Gomory Prize
Date: 11/30/2017
Organization: Ralph Gomory Prize
The Hagley Prize
Date: 11/30/2017
Organization: Hagley Prize