Surplus Property Board

Last updated

The Surplus Property Board (SPB) was briefly responsible for disposing of $90 billion of surplus war property held by the United States government in the final year of World War II. [1] Created by the Surplus Property Act of 1944, [2] the Board functioned for less than nine months, before being replaced by a more streamlined agency.

Contents

Authorization

The aims of the Surplus Property Act were not limited to distributing surplus property; they also included re-establishing free independent enterprise, strengthening the competitive position of new and small businesspersons and family farmers, and putting government property to widespread, nonmonopolistic use. [3]

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s economic advisor, Bernard Baruch, originally recommended that the U.S. dispose of surplus war goods through an agency run by a single administrator (and assisted by a policy board), and with general statutory authority. [4] Through an Executive Order, [5] Roosevelt established the Surplus War Property Administration and named public servant and former Texas cotton broker William L. Clayton to administer it. [6] In the Act, however, Congress rejected that approach, providing instead for a three-member board with significantly constrained authority. [7] President Roosevelt signed the Act "with considerable reluctance," because of the danger that "the confused methods of disposition and the elaborate restrictions: imposed by the Act "would clearly delay rather than expedite reconversion and re-employment." [8] [7] The Board was also placed under the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion. [9]

Appointment and implementation

Though the Act was signed on October 3, 1944, the Board was not organized until January 1945. [10] President Roosevelt found it difficult to find persons willing to serve on the Board. [10] Clayton had made it clear that, if the Act were adopted, he would not become a board member. [6] Roosevelt's initial preference as chair, former South Carolina banker and Defense Plant Corp. President Sam H. Husbands, was never nominated because of anticipated resistance in the lame-duck 1944 Senate. [11] Roosevelt instead nominated a member of that body, recently defeated Iowa U.S. Senator Guy Gillette, on November 21, 1944. However, the choice of a Senator who had voted on the Act created a temporary constitutional bar to his appointment, delaying the effectiveness of his appointment until on January 4, 1945, one day after the end of his Senate term. [12] The two other members of the Board were former Connecticut Governor Robert A. Hurley and Lieut. Colonel Edward Hellman Heller, [13] a wealthy member of one of San Francisco's first families, who had resigned seven directorships to join the U.S. Army. [11]

By April 1945, newspapers reported that Gillette already disliked the job, [14] and had complained that he was often out-voted by the two other members. [15] In May 1945 Gillette resigned effective July 15, 1945, and President Harry S. Truman appointed St. Louis manufacturing executive W. Stuart Symington to succeed him as chair. [16]

Nevertheless, in a July 17, 1945, message to Congress, President Truman acknowledged the Board's "substantial achievements:"

It has set in motion the disposal machinery which Congress authorized and it has begun to implement the standards which Congress laid down for the disposal of surplus property. Regulations already promulgated or in the process of adoption cover the most important types of property-consumer goods, plant equipment, industrial plants and farm lands. [17]

Years of wartime rationing had created a pent-up demand for many kinds of goods that the government had accumulated. [7] That demand was exacerbated by the return of millions of veterans to civilian life. But the Board’s policymaking responsibilities were complicated by the potential implications of selling too much surplus property at once, at discounted prices. The amount of surplus property was so vast that private manufacturers feared that, once offered for sale, it would harm domestic markets for privately produced goods and exacerbate a postwar recession. [18] [3] The Board responded by pledging not to sell more than the market could absorb, and to rely upon sales to new foreign buyers in order to introduce new markets to American goods. [18]

Replacement

Gillette, Symington, President Truman, and the more liberal 1945 U.S. Congress concurred that the Act’s three-member Board was inferior to the single-administrator-plan originally proposed. [17] President Truman proposed in July 1945 to reorganize the Board into an agency with a single head, [17] and Congress soon agreed. [15] The Board was superseded by the Surplus Property Administration (SPA), pursuant to an act of September 18, 1945. [19] [9]

Board chairman Symington was the SPA’s first administrator. Then, in 1946, domestic functions of the SPA were assigned to War Assets Administration. [9] Truman named Symington as Assistant Secretary of War for Air, and then as the first Secretary of the Air Force.

See also

Related Research Articles

The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was a government corporation administered by the United States Federal Government between 1932 and 1957 that provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgage associations, and other businesses. Its purpose was to boost the country's confidence and help banks resume daily functions after the start of the Great Depression. The RFC became more prominent under the New Deal and continued to operate through World War II. It was disbanded in 1957, when the US Federal Government concluded that it no longer needed to stimulate lending.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry A. Wallace</span> Vice president of the United States from 1941 to 1945

Henry Agard Wallace was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, from 1941 to 1945, under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He served as the 11th U.S. secretary of agriculture and the 10th U.S. secretary of commerce. He was the nominee of the new Progressive Party in the 1948 presidential election.

This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from 1930 to 1949.

The Fair Deal was a set of proposals put forward by U.S. President Harry S. Truman to Congress in 1945 and in his January 1949 State of the Union address. More generally, the term characterizes the entire domestic agenda of the Truman administration, from 1945 to 1953. It offered new proposals to continue New Deal liberalism, but with a conservative coalition controlling Congress, only a few of its major initiatives became law and then only if they had considerable Republican Party support. As Richard Neustadt concludes, the most important proposals were aid to education, national health insurance, the Fair Employment Practices Commission, and repeal of the Taft–Hartley Act. They were all debated at length, then voted down. Nevertheless, enough smaller and less controversial items passed that liberals could claim some success.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred M. Vinson</span> Chief Justice of the United States from 1946 to 1953

Frederick "Fred" Moore Vinson was an American attorney and politician who served as the 13th chief justice of the United States from 1946 until his death in 1953. Vinson was one of the few Americans to have served in all three branches of the U.S. government. Before becoming chief justice, Vinson served as a U.S. Representative from Kentucky from 1924 to 1928 and 1930 to 1938, as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1938 to 1943, and as the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1945 to 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Morgenthau Jr.</span> American politician (1891–1967)

Henry Morgenthau Jr. was the United States Secretary of the Treasury during most of the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played a major role in designing and financing the New Deal. After 1937, while still in charge of the Treasury, he played the central role in financing United States participation in World War II. He also played an increasingly major role in shaping foreign policy, especially with respect to Lend-Lease, support for China, helping Jewish refugees, and proposing measures to deindustrialise Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Symington</span> American politician (1901–1988)

William Stuart Symington III was an American businessman and Democratic politician from Missouri. He served as the first Secretary of the Air Force from 1947 to 1950 and was a United States Senator from Missouri from 1953 to 1976.

The United States maintained its Constitutional Republic government structure throughout World War II. Certain expediencies were taken within the existing structure of the Federal government, such as conscription and other violations of civil liberties, including the internment and later dispersal of Japanese-Americans. Still, elections were held as scheduled in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">79th United States Congress</span> 1945–1947 U.S. Congress

The 79th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 1945, to January 3, 1947, during the last months of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, and the first two years of Harry Truman's presidency. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the 1940 United States census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Gillette</span> American politician (1879–1973)

Guy Mark Gillette was an American politician serving as a Democratic U.S. Representative and Senator from Iowa. In the U.S. Senate, Gillette was elected, re-elected, defeated, elected again, and defeated again.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Truman Committee</span> US Senate special committee (1941–48)

The Truman Committee, formally known as the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, was a United States Congressional investigative body, headed by Senator Harry S. Truman. The bipartisan special committee was formed in March 1941 to find and correct problems in US war production with waste, inefficiency, and war profiteering. The Truman Committee proved to be one of the most successful investigative efforts ever mounted by the U.S. government: an initial budget of $15,000 was expanded over three years to $360,000 to save an estimated $10–15 billion in military spending and thousands of lives of U.S. servicemen. For comparison, the entire cost of the simultaneous Manhattan Project, which created the first atomic bombs, was $2 billion. Chairing the committee helped Truman make a name for himself beyond his political machine origins and was a major factor in the decision to nominate him as vice president, which would propel him to the presidency after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry S. Truman</span> President of the United States from 1945 to 1953

Harry S. Truman was an American politician who served as the 33rd president of the United States from 1945 to 1953. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United States senator from Missouri from 1935 to 1945 and briefly as the 34th vice president in 1945 under Franklin D. Roosevelt. Assuming the presidency after Roosevelt's death, Truman implemented the Marshall Plan in the wake of World War II to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism. He proposed numerous liberal domestic reforms, but few were enacted by the conservative coalition that dominated the Congress.

The Surplus Property Act of 1944 is an act of the United States Congress that was enacted to provide for the disposal of surplus government property to "a State, political subdivision of a State, or tax-supported organization". It authorized a three-member board, known as the Surplus Property Board, a structure that was replaced within a year by an agency run by a single administrator. Many of its provisions were repealed on July 1, 1949.

The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of United States government-owned surplus material and property from World War II. The WAA was established in the Office for Emergency Management, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Order 9689, January 31, 1946. It was headed by Robert McGowan Littlejohn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of Harry S. Truman</span> U.S. presidential administration from 1945 to 1953

Harry S. Truman's tenure as the 33rd president of the United States began on April 12, 1945, upon the death of president Franklin D. Roosevelt, and ended on January 20, 1953. He had been vice president for only 82 days when he succeeded to the presidency. Truman, a Democrat from Missouri, ran for and won a full four-year term in the 1948 presidential election, in which he narrowly defeated Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey and Dixiecrat nominee Strom Thurmond. Although exempted from the newly ratified Twenty-second Amendment, Truman did not run for a second full term in the 1952 presidential election because of his low popularity. He was succeeded by Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower.

The Federal Works Agency (FWA) was an independent agency of the federal government of the United States which administered a number of public construction, building maintenance, and public works relief functions and laws from 1939 to 1949. Along with the Federal Security Agency and Federal Loan Agency, it was one of three catch-all agencies of the federal government pursuant to reorganization plans authorized by the Reorganization Act of 1939, the first major, planned reorganization of the executive branch of the government of the United States since 1787.

The National War Labor Board, commonly the War Labor Board, was an independent agency of the United States government, established January 12, 1942, by an executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the purpose of which was to mediate labor disputes as part of the American home front during World War II.

The presidency of Harry S. Truman began on April 12, 1945, when Harry S. Truman became the 33rd president upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and ended on January 20, 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, third and fourth terms</span> U.S. presidential administration from 1941 to 1945

The third presidential term of Franklin D. Roosevelt began on January 20, 1941, when he was once again inaugurated as the 32nd president of the United States, and the fourth term of his presidency ended with his death on April 12, 1945. Roosevelt won a third term by defeating Republican nominee Wendell Willkie in the 1940 United States presidential election. He remains the only president to serve for more than two terms. Unlike his first two terms, Roosevelt's third and fourth terms were dominated by foreign policy concerns, as the United States became involved in World War II in December 1941.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fulbright Act of 1946</span>

Fulbright Act of 1946, 50a U.S.C. § 1619, is a United States statute commissioning the United States Department of State as a disposal agency for the disposal of materials on public lands and the reclamation of salvageable military surplus assets pending the aftermath of World War II. The Act of Congress was an amendment to the Surplus Property Act of 1944 implementing section 1619 entitled designation of disposal agencies.

References

  1. ↑ ”Surplus Property: Uncle Sam, Merchant,” Time Magazine, 1945-06-23.
  2. ↑ 58 Stat. 768.
  3. 1 2 Editorial, "Surplus Property," Life Magazine, 1944-12-18 at p. 20
  4. ↑ Phillips J. Beck, "Baruch Offers Plan to Take Government 'Out' of Business," Connellsville (PA) Daily Courier, 1944-02-21 at p. 5.
  5. ↑ Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Executive Order 9425 Establishing the Surplus War Property Administration," February 19, 1944, reprinted at The American Presidency Project website, last accessed 2010-08-01.
  6. 1 2 U.S. at War: The Surplus Surplus Bill, 1944-10-02, Time Magazine.
  7. 1 2 3 Editorial, “Year’s Delay on War Surplus Disposal,” Waterloo (IA) Daily Courier, 1945-09-18 at p. 4.
  8. ↑ ”Statement on Signing the Surplus Property Act of 1944.,” October 3, 1944, reprinted at The American Presidency Project website, last accessed 2010-07-28.
  9. 1 2 3 Records of the War Assets Administration (WAA) in the holdings of the US National Archives and Records Administration.
  10. 1 2 Harold Stein, “Public Administration and Policy Development,” 321 (Harcourt, Brace: 1952).
  11. 1 2 "Stormy Weather," Time Magazine, 1944-12-04.
  12. ↑ ”Surplus Property Board Formed,” Hamilton (OH) Daily News Journal, 1944-11-22 at 1.
  13. ↑ "Lieut. Colonel Edward Hellman Heller, Time Magazine)".
  14. ↑ "Inside Washington," Valparaiso Vidette-Messenger, 1945-04-16 at p. 7.
  15. 1 2 "Under the Capitol Dome," Ames Daily Tribune, 1945-07-20 at p. 4.
  16. ↑ ”Transcript of President Truman's News Conference,” June 7, 1945, reprinted at The American Presidency Project website, last accessed 2010-07-29.
  17. 1 2 3 ”Special Message to the Congress on Amending the Surplus Property Act To Provide for a Single Administrator,” July 17, 1945, reprinted at The American Presidency Project website, last accessed 2010-07-28.
  18. 1 2 ”War Leftovers to Aid U.S. Business, SPB Says,” Abilene (TX) Reporter-News, 1945-09-13 at p. 10.
  19. ↑ 59 Stat. 533, codified at 50 U.S.C. §§ 1612, 1614a, 1614b, 1615 to 1621, 1623 to 1630; repealed June 30, 1949, ch. 288, title VI, § 602(a)(1).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.