The WPB directed conversion of companies engaged in activities relevant to war from peacetime work to war needs, allocated scarce materials, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, and prohibited nonessential production.[3] It rationed such commodities as gasoline, heating oil, metals, rubber, paper,[4] and plastics. It was dissolved shortly after the defeat of Japan in 1945 and was replaced by the Civilian Production Administration in late 1945.
In 1942–1945, WPB supervised the production of $183billion (equivalent to $2.46trillion in 2023[5]) worth of weapons and supplies, about 40percent of the world output of munitions. The UK, the USSR, and other allies produced an additional 30percent, while the Axis produced only 30percent. One fourth of the US output was warplanes; one fourth was warships. Meanwhile, the civilian standard of living was about level.[6]
Organization
The first chair of the board was Donald Nelson, who served from 1942 to 1944.[7] He was succeeded by Julius Albert Krug, who served from 1944 until the board was dissolved.
The WPB employed mathematicians who were responsible for constructing and maintaining multilevel models of resources needed for the war effort. Their models included manufacturing defects, materials lost when ships were sunk at sea, &c. Upon analyzing field reports which revealed systematic shortages, the mathematicians decided to increase allocations submitted to the board by a factor of 10.
The WPB managed 12 regional offices and operated 120 field offices throughout the nation. They worked alongside state war production boards, which maintained records on state war production facilities and also helped state businesses obtain war contracts and loans.
The national WPB's primary task was converting civilian industry to war production. The WPB assigned priorities and allocated scarce materials such as steel, aluminum, and rubber, prohibited nonessential industrial production such as that of nylons and refrigerators, controlled wages and prices, and mobilized the people through patriotic propaganda such as "give your scrap metal and help Oklahoma boys save our way of life".[8] It initiated events such as scrap metal drives, which were carried out locally to great success. For example, a national scrap metal drive in October 1942 resulted in an average of almost 82 pounds (37kg) of scrap per American.[8]
WPB order M-9-C related to the conservation of copper and, in May 1942, The Film Daily reported that this would apply to the production of new motion picture sound and projection equipment but not to the delivery of items already produced.[9]
Effects
The WPB and the nation's factories effected a great turnaround. Military aircraft production, which totaled 6,000 in 1940, jumped to 85,000 in 1943. Factories that made silk ribbons now produced parachutes, automobile factories built tanks, typewriter companies converted to rifles, undergarment manufacturers sewed mosquito netting, and a rollercoaster manufacturer converted to the production of bomber repair platforms.[8] The WPB ensured that each factory received the materials it needed to produce the most war goods in the shortest time.
Without American production the Allies could never have won the war.
Nelson faced extensive criticism from the military during his tenure. Described by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin as "habitually indecisive", Nelson had difficulty sorting the conflicting requests from various agencies. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson regularly criticized Nelson for his "inability to take charge". He argued endlessly with Robert P. Patterson of the War Department. Patterson typically demanded that civilian needs be given lower priority because military supplies were essential to winning the war, and that argument usually prevailed.[11] In February 1943, Roosevelt invited Bernard Baruch to replace Nelson as WPB head, but was persuaded to change his mind by advisor Harry Hopkins, and Nelson remained in the post.[12][13][14]
From 1942 to 1945 the WPB directed a total production of $185billion (equivalent to $2.48trillion in 2023[5]) worth of armaments and supplies. At war's end, most production restrictions were quickly lifted, and the WPB was abolished on November 3, 1945, with its remaining functions transferred to the Civilian Production Administration.[citation needed]
Members
A safety campaign around ordnance by US Army published during the height of World WarII (c.1942–1943) by the War Production Board
Executive Order 9638 created the Civilian Production Administration and terminated the War Production Board on October 4, 1945.[16] The Civilian Production Board was consolidated with other agencies to form the Office of Temporary Controls—an agency in the Office for Emergency Management of the executive office of the president. The latter had previously been established pursuant to the Reorganization Act of 1939.[17] The executive order provided a Temporary Controls Administrator, appointed by the president, to head the Office of Temporary Controls and vested in him, among other things, the functions of the Price Administrator.[18]
↑ Industrial Mobilization for War: History of the War Production Board and Predecessor Agencies: 1940–1945. United States Bureau of Demobilization, Civilian Production Administration. 1947. pp.961–62. hdl:2027/uiug.30112041826683.
Holl, Richard E. From the boardroom to the war room: America's corporate liberals and FDR's preparedness program (University of Rochester Press, 2005).
Koistinen, Paul A.C. Arsenal of World War II: The political economy of American warfare, 1940–1945 (2004) online.
Koistinen, Paul AC. "Mobilizing the World War II economy: labor and the industrial-military alliance." Pacific Historical Review (1973): 443–478 online.
United States Bureau of the Budget. The United States at war; development and administration of the war program by the Federal Government (1946; reprint 1972) online also for downloading
Wilson, Mark R. " 'Taking a Nickel Out of the Cash Register': Statutory Renegotiation of Military Contracts and the Politics of Profit Control in the United States during World War II." Law and History Review 28.2 (2010): 343–383.
The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money and rents after the outbreak of World War II.
In the United States government, independent agencies are agencies that exist outside the federal executive departments and the Executive Office of the President. In a narrower sense, the term refers only to those independent agencies that, while considered part of the executive branch, have regulatory or rulemaking authority and are insulated from presidential control, usually because the president's power to dismiss the agency head or a member is limited.
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department, was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, also bearing responsibility for naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798, and for most land-based air forces until the creation of the Department of the Air Force on September 18, 1947.
Charles Edward Wilson was a CEO of General Electric.
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.
The War Shipping Administration (WSA) was a World War II emergency war agency of the US government, tasked to purchase and operate the civilian shipping tonnage the United States needed for fighting the war. Both shipbuilding under the Maritime Commission and ship allocation under the WSA to Army, Navy or civilian needs were closely coordinated though Vice Admiral Emory S. Land who continued as head of the Maritime Commission while also heading the WSA.
Nathan Gregory Silvermaster, an economist with the United States War Production Board (WPB) during World War II, was the head of a large ring of Communist spies in the U.S. government. It is from him that the FBI Silvermaster File, documenting the Bureau's investigation into Communist penetration of the Federal government during the 1930s and 1940s, takes its name. His wife, Helen and stepson, Anatole Volkov, were members of his ring.
Mary Wolfe Price (1909–1980) was an American who was accused of being a spy for the Soviet Union.
William Signius Knudsen was a leading Danish-American automotive industry executive and an American general during World War II. His experience and success as a key senior manager in the operations sides of Ford Motor Company and then General Motors led the Franklin Roosevelt administration to commission him directly as a lieutenant general in the United States Army to help lead the United States' war materiel production efforts for World War II.
Headed by Victor Perlo, the Perlo group is the name given to a group of Americans who provided information which was given to Soviet intelligence agencies; it was active during the World War II period, until the entire group was exposed to the FBI by the defection of Elizabeth Bentley.
The United States home front during World War II supported the war effort in many ways, including a wide range of volunteer efforts and submitting to government-managed rationing and price controls. There was a general feeling of agreement that the sacrifices were for the national good during the war.
The Office of Defense Mobilization (ODM) was an independent agency of the United States government whose function was to plan, coordinate, direct and control all wartime mobilization activities of the federal government, including manpower, economic stabilization, and transport operations. It was established in 1950, and for three years was one of the most powerful agencies in the federal government. It merged with other agencies in 1958 to become the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization (1958–1961).
Donald Marr Nelson (1888–1959) was an American business executive and public servant, serving as the executive vice president of Sears Roebuck before accepting the position of director of priorities of the United States Office of Production Management (1941–1942). In 1942 Nelson became chairman of the War Production Board (1942–1944) when it replaced the OPM. He later served for two years (1945–1947) as president of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers.
The War Food Administration was a United States government agency that existed from 1943 to 1945. The War Food Administration was responsible for the production and distribution of food to meet war and essential civilian needs during World War II. It was a predecessor of the Farm Service Agency.
The Combined Production and Resources Board was a temporary World War II government agency that allocated the combined economic resources of the United States and Britain. It was set up by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill on June 9, 1942. Canada, after insisting on its economic importance, was given a place on the board in November, 1942. The Board closed down at the end of December 1945.
The Combined Food Board was a temporary World War II government agency that allocated the combined economic resources of the United States and the United Kingdom. It was set up by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill on June 9, 1942. Canada, after insisting on its economic importance, was given a place on the board in November, 1942. At first the Board was a pawn in a battle between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. War Food Administration. After that was resolved, the Board ran smoothly, and effectiveness increased. Its major achievement was the multi-nation commodity committees that it set up in 1945, which became the International Emergency Food Council. It tried to organize responses to a massive shortage of food in war-torn areas. It closed in 1946.
The Combined Raw Materials Board was a temporary World War II government agency that allocated the combined economic resources of the United States and Britain. It was set up by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill on January 26, 1942. Later Canada participated as an associated member in many of the Board's decisions.
The Supply Priorities and Allocations Board (SPAB) was a United States administrative entity within the Office for Emergency Management which was created and dissolved during the World War II. The board was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt via Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941, and dissolved less than five months later. The purpose of the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board was to coordinate the distribution of materials and commodities related to national defense and to assist the Office of Production Management (OPM) in carrying out their overlapping duties. The board's membership consisted of the director general and associate director general of the OPM, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, administrator of the Office of Price Administration Leon Henderson, chairman of the Economic Defense Board Henry A. Wallace and the special assistant to the president supervising the Lend-Lease program, Edward Stettinius, Jr. The president retained the power to appoint an executive director and to select the chairman of the board from its members. The only chairman of SPAB during its short lifespan was Vice President Wallace and its sole executive director was businessman Donald M. Nelson.
The presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt began on March 4, 1933.
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.
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