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Arsenal of Democracy


alktrio06
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If you look at just about any town in America, even small ones, chances are stuff was made there for the war effort. It's pretty amazing when you start looking at what factories were pretty much everywhere during the war, and almost all of them made for the military.

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America's production effort during WW2 was simply staggering, a triumph of mass-production backed up with incredible logistical organization to get the stuff to where it was needed and in such vast quantities. Check out this video to get a sense of the Herculean effort involved.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYAEBIywGtg

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America's production effort during WW2 was simply staggering, a triumph of mass-production backed up with incredible logistical organization to get the stuff to where it was needed and in such vast quantities. Check out this video to get a sense of the Herculean effort involved.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYAEBIywGtg

 

I live about 20 minutes from Willow Run. I did an internship at the Yankee Air Museum before the original hangar burned down. It was a shame that they lost all of that history!

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During 1942 (especially but not solely), there was a politically-driven, deliberate effort to "get everybody, everywhere" involved/invested in the war effort.

 

This included War Bonds, recycling of rubber, aluminum, etc., parades, speeches, media campaigns in the vein of public-relations.

 

It also had an economic thrust, by which the maximum practicable number of contractors made stuff for the military. various agencies -- under the Executive Branch, i.e. the FDR White House -- aggressively made it happen. They sought out, for example, any small business that could fabricate packs, pouches, and other forms of LBE. Pittsburgh Garter and Airtress (air mattresses in civvie times) are just two that spring to mind . In carbine pouches alone there were maybe 20 such mom-and-pop makers. Same for other pieces of gear -- canteens, cups, mess-kits, kitchen and medical gear. The agencies saw to it that the businesses got the machinery, raw materials, vehicles, fuel and workers they needed. After 1942, various such contractors were dropped, due to high unit costs, late deliveries, inefficiency or other factors; the bigger ones kept producing until 1945.

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