In continuing my studies of World War II in conjunction with my presidential biographies, this book was extremely informative not only about how FDR worked to create the American war armaments industry but also how the manufacturing companies accepted the assignments that they were tasked to provided during the war.

Even though the American public was aware of the conflict in Europe, it wasn't until the attack on Pearl Harbor they the American people realized how the war was going to impact them as well. Even though FDR made efforts to transition the automotive industry to assist with military supplies, there were companies that were reluctant to get involved.

The main focus of this book was on the Ford Motor Company. Henry Ford was very unwilling to change anything at his plants. As an isolationist along with his friend Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford felt that the US should stay out of Europe's problems. Lindbergh and Ford both received golden Nazi medals from Hitler for their stance. Fortunately, for the war effort, Henry Ford's son, Edsel, was in charge of the plants and he accepted the task of changing the assembly lines from to autos to planes. His vision of completing the construction of one B24 bomber every hour took over his life and he battled constantly with his father about it. Without Ford and other companies, the results of World War II may have been very different. FDR wanted the auto industry to provide 80% of the tanks, 33% of machine guns, 100% of cars and trucks.

What fascinated me most was the volume that the "Arsenal of Democracy" (FDR's term) produced by companies you wouldn't relate with making a particular item.

Kleenex Tissue company built .50 caliber machine gun mounts
An orange squeezer maker produced bullet molds
A casket builder made airplane parts. A pinball-machine maker created Armor piercing shells
GM made aircraft engines and Wildcat fighter planes.
Packard manufactured marine and aviation engines.
Dodge was responsible for gyrocompasses, shortwave radar sets, and ambulances
Chrysler made field kitchens, and .50 caliber machine guns,
Studebaker made troop transporters
Cadillac built tanks and howitzer cannons
Chevrolet fashioned 75 MM high explosive shells
Oldsmobile made cannon shells

But the biggest contribution came from Ford who not only erected an entirely new plant at Willow Run that was more than seven million square feet of floor space but one that was large enough to assemble a B24 bomber within it. The bomber was 66' long, 18' tall, and had 110' wingspan. They assembled 6,972 B24 in 3 years averaging 200 bombers a month.

The book was well-written and even though the topic wasn't the cheeriest, it moved along well and kept your attention.

TREMENDOUS EFFORTS OF THE GREATEST GENERATION reflected in a great book. ( )

What is it with popular histories of WWII? The whole things reads a bit breathless in its fawning admiration of the topic. Would like to have had a bit less of the reality tv tone. ( )

Terrific history. Excellent review of the history leading to and through WWII as well as the history of Ford motors! Was a good pairing with The Wright Brothers this summer. ( )

The author is a magazine writer and editor and this fascinating history profits from his skills. Very readable and engrossing, this is the tale of how the U.S. essentially had to create a wartime armaments industry on the fly. The heart of the book is how Ford believed that heavy bomber production could be transformed by techniques similar to producing automobiles via mass production and an assembly line. It took a while, but eventually the point was proven. (Detroit became the largest producer of weaponry in the country.) In addition, the work is a mini-biography of the Ford family: Henry and his son Edsel and grandson Henry II, and their wives and colleagues. Henry was certainly an industrial genius but he also was a rabid isolationist, a father who abused his son, and an employer who abused his workers; he hired a goon to assemble an internal police force of low-life's who then intimidated workers and physically attacked anyone who dared to seek unionization. Morale plummeted and for a few years Ford was the only major auto manufacturer with no union contract. Henry could be arbitrary simply because he was paranoid and his word was company policy. He loathed FDR and employed Charles Lindbergh, another isolationist and FDR critic, who was blacklisted everywhere else. Lindbergh and Ford both received golden Nazi medals from Hitler for their views. What's lacking is how the creation of the military industrial complex was a key factor in winning WWII but then became a normal part of the American landscape, eating up a huge percentage of the budget even in peacetime. President Eisenhower, who in WWII led American troops that benefitted from American military production, cautioned about reigning in the power and influence of the military industrial complex in his farewell address. ( )

Fascinating and highly informative retelling of the role that the Big Three of the American auto industry played in manufacturing the machinery that allowed the United States and the Allied Forces defeat the Axis Power to win World War II. The book's main focus is on the Ford Motor Company and, in particular, about the mammoth plant that was constructed at Willow Run to mass produce bombers using assembly line techniques. The story is overlaid with the tale of the lasting conflicts between founder Henry Ford (a staunch pacifist) and his only child, Edsel Ford. ( )