Richard E. Holl. From the Boardroom to the War Room: America's Corporate Liberals and FDR's Preparedness Program

In August 1939, the U.S. military remained terribly ill equippedfor a major international conflict. The average infantry soldierwas armed with a 1903 Springfield rifle, field artillery dependedupon 75-mm howitzers designed for the First World War, and armorconsisted of about five hundred outdated tanks. U.S. industry,still almost completely geared for peacetime production, wasin little position to be of much help. By December 1942, however,the once "disarmed forces" of the United States had become amilitary superpower and American industry the "arsenal of