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World War II mobilization and wartime research
1939–1945 (US at war December 1941 – 1945)· Event· Society: who gained, who lost
Well documentedSolid records, texts or physical evidence.
World War II turned the US into the 'arsenal of democracy,' converting factories to arms and funding big science.
See it on the Innovation & Wealth map →What happened
Federal spending rose from about 10% of output in 1940 to over 40% in 1943–44. Carmakers stopped civilian production in 1942 to make tanks, engines and bombers; at peak, Ford's Willow Run plant turned out a B-24 bomber about every hour. The US built roughly 300,000 aircraft. Rationing, price controls and war bonds held down consumer spending, and income tax withholding began in 1943. Women and Black workers moved into factory jobs. Government-funded research produced microwave radar, mass-produced penicillin, early computers and the atomic bomb.
Impact on society and the economy
It ended Depression unemployment and built the factories, savings and research model behind the postwar boom. Workers gained jobs; about 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned, many losing homes and businesses.
How we know
War Production Board and Census production records, Bureau of Labor Statistics data, federal budget figures, and histories such as Arthur Herman's Freedom's Forge (2012).
Still debated
Did wartime prosperity mean better living? Economist Robert Higgs argues civilian consumption was squeezed and true recovery came after 1945; others disagree.
Connections (4)
▸World War II mobilization and wartime research ended the mass unemployment of Crash of 1929 and the Great DepressionMostly agreed
The connection
US unemployment was still about 15% in 1940. Then war spending and the draft absorbed the idle: federal spending roughly quadrupled as a share of output, about 12 million people were in uniform by 1945, and unemployment fell to about 1% in 1944. Mass joblessness, the Depression's defining feature, was gone within three years.
When and how
United States, 1940–1944; the Roosevelt administration, the War Production Board and the Selective Service draft.
How sure are we?
Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment estimates and Commerce Department output and budget data show the timing clearly.
Debates
Did the war end the Depression or merely mask it? Keynesians see a test of deficit spending; skeptics note that the draft, rationing and price controls made it unlike peacetime.
▸World War II mobilization and wartime research built the factories and savings behind Postwar boom and the rise of the middle classMostly agreed
The connection
War production nearly doubled US output, ended Depression unemployment and built modern plants later converted to civilian goods. Rationing forced households to save; the personal saving rate reached about a quarter of income in 1944. After 1945 that pent-up demand, war-built factories and a skilled workforce fueled a buying surge in cars, homes and appliances.
When and how
United States, 1941–1946; the government's Defense Plant Corporation sold many war factories to private firms, often cheaply; the GI Bill (1944) supported returning veterans.
How sure are we?
National accounts, savings data and records of war-plant sales document the transition; historians agree on the broad link.
Debates
Many economists expected a postwar depression that never came, and why is argued; some question whether wartime output growth reflected real gains in living standards.
▸World War II mobilization and wartime research spurred the electronics research behind Transistor (Bell Labs)Mostly agreed
The connection
Radar needed crystal detectors that vacuum tubes could not match, so wartime programs at MIT's Radiation Laboratory, Purdue and Bell Labs learned to purify germanium and silicon. That semiconductor know-how, plus Bell Labs' expanded postwar research team, set up the 1947 transistor breakthrough. Military buyers then funded much early transistor production.
When and how
MIT Radiation Laboratory, Purdue University and Bell Labs, 1940–1945; Bell Labs formed its solid-state group in 1945 under William Shockley and chemist Stanley Morgan.
How sure are we?
Wartime research reports, Bell Labs records, and histories like Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson's Crystal Fire (1997) document the link.
Debates
Bell Labs had begun semiconductor work before the war, so how much the war accelerated, rather than caused, the invention is debated.
▸Bretton Woods system was negotiated during World War II mobilization and wartime researchWell documented
The connection
Planners met in July 1944, a month after D-Day, determined to avoid the 1930s pattern of currency wars, tariffs and depression that they believed had helped cause the war. The war had made the US the world's main creditor and holder of most monetary gold, so it largely set the terms.
When and how
Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, July 1–22, 1944; 730 delegates from 44 Allied nations, including the Soviet Union, which never ratified the agreement.
How we know
The conference proceedings, delegates' records, and the IMF and World Bank founding documents.
Debates
Why the Soviet Union stayed out, and whether the US used its wartime leverage over a weakened Britain fairly, are still debated.