The document discusses how Michigan played a key role as "The Arsenal of Democracy" during World War 2 by producing vast amounts of war material. Thousands of Michigan industries and workers came together in a massive mobilization effort to produce vehicles, aircraft, weapons and other supplies for the U.S. and its allies. This included major production from automakers like Ford, GM and Chrysler. The Arsenal faced challenges like labor shortages that were addressed by employing more women and minorities. Michigan's industries helped ensure the Allies' victory through tremendous production that outpaced Germany and Japan.

1. The Arsenal of Democracy
Backing the Attack
Scan from Yankee Air Museum
By: Kyle Scheel
EDU 290
8:00-9:15

2. What is the Arsenal of Democracy?
• “The Arsenal of Democracy” is an important
part of Michigan and United States history.
• It was not a single entity but, a network of
industries, thousands of corporations,
companies, and job-shops, and thousands of
dedicated workers.
• Together they worked to produce the goods
needed to fight and win a world war.

3. Why did Democracy Need an Arsenal?
• World War II began in 1939 when Germany
invaded Poland.
• Great Britain and France declared war on
Germany in retaliation and, to defend European
sovereignty.
– France was invaded and conquered by
Germany in 1940.
– Great Britain was left to defend Europe alone.
• By 1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, known
as FDR, knew war would find the United States
soon.

4. Why did Democracy Need an Arsenal?
Cont’d
• FDR knew Great Britain could not hold out for
long against the Germans in 1940 without help.
• The Germans had been besieging the British by
air and by sea for nearly two years.
• Great Britain was a resource-poor island nation
and it was being starved of all material necessary
for survival.
• FDR knew aiding Britain was essential. They were
the only opposition between the Germans and
the USA.

5. Why did Democracy Need an Arsenal?
Cont’d
• December 29, 1940: FDR called on America to be
“the Arsenal of Democracy”, to keep England
afloat, and to produce essential goods for the
national security of the United States (Davis
2007).
• Lend-Lease was setup in 1940 to provide Great
Britain (and other allies) with war goods.
• The United States would sell and loan those
goods to Britain.
• Much of what was needed for both countries had
to be produced in great quantities and, quickly.

6. From the office of the White House…
www.bilerico.com
Complete Speech and Audio Download

7. The Swing into Action
• “The Arsenal of Democracy” soon became synonymous
with Michigan (Wrynn 1993).
• It was a well developed and experienced
manufacturing center.
• It had access to many resources (e.g.: steel, wood).
• Michigan’s waterways allowed for easy transport of
resources/products around the state/between states.
– Also provided access to the Atlantic Ocean.
• As a result it produced much of the materials for Lend-
Lease and for the USA’s defense needs.
• Man power was to become scarce at the time of
greatest need.

8. Production in Peril?
• The Selective Service Act of 1940 was the first
peace time draft (Wrynn 1993).
– Men between the ages of 21 and 30 had to register
for the draft.
• Men began to be called away for military service.
• A man power shortage of even greater
proportions would be experienced in the
aftermath of the December 7th, 1941 Japanese
surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
• Voluntary enlistments in the military soared.
• The draft ages were adjusted to men between 18
and 45 years old.

9. Production in Peril? Cont’d
• “The Arsenal of Democracy” was under pressure,
but would overcome.
• Lack of “man” power was dealt with by the
introduction of women to the workforce and with
a migrating population.
• By wars end nearly 40% of all women worked
outside the home (Wrynn 1993).
• In some production plants women made up 90%
of the work force (Wrynn 1993).
• African Americans eased worker shortages too.
– From the South they migrated North by their
thousands to take on vital war jobs.

10. The call was put out…
Women were needed!
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/126_rosi.html

11. Scans from Michigan Military Technical & Historical Society Collection

12. Rosie the Riveter
•“Rosie the Riveter” was not
a real person.
•She was the image that
represented all women in
the war effort.
•They worked grueling and
demanding jobs, many that
were thought only a man
could do.
•They proved their ability
and their deserved equality
in the work place, even if
they rarely got it.
Rosie the Riveter Song & Video
Picture by Norman Rockwell

13. www.shorpy.com
Who says the woman’s place is in
the home?
The Arsenal of Democracy helped
to spur on the feminist movement.
www.shorpy.com

14. Production in Peril? Cont’d
• Material shortages plagued production as well
(Davis 2007).
• Scrap drives helped to reclaim resources.
• Rationing was widespread to conserve all
goods deemed essential to the war effort.
• Alternatives were found through synthetics.
• The citizens of the USA sacrificed to keep the
Arsenal operating to capacity.

15. Typical wartime “Get in the Scrap” type posters.
images.wisconsinhistory.org www.ohiohistorycentral.org

16. It was a Success!
• Through adversity triumph was achieved for
“the Arsenal of Democracy”.
• The many companies that made up this
monster of production performed beautifully.
• The majority of government contracts had
been met by the end of the war in 1945.
• The USA was able to out produce its enemies
on every front.

17. The General
• General Motors was the biggest producer of
war goods (Wrynn 1993).
• It produced appr. 880,000 vehicles, tens of
thousands of aircraft engines, and appr.
12,000 fighter planes (Wrynn 1993).
• GM also turned out 3 million rifles, 2 million
machine guns, 120 million artillery shells, and
39 million rifle and pistol cartridge cases
(Davis 2007).

18. General Motors built 854,000 trucks
like this during WWII
Scan from Michigan Military Technical & Historical Society Collection

19. The contributions of Ford Motor Co.
Scan from Yankee Air Museum
Products shown: B-24 bomber, CG-4 glider, M-8 & M-20
Greyhounds, M4 Sherman Tank, M10 Tank Destroyer, Jeep, Seep,
G8T truck, Bomb Truck, Aircraft Tug, Aircraft Engine & Tank Engine,
Anti-Aircraft Director Unit

20. In WWII Ford Motor Company
produced
• 8,685 B-24 Bombers • 1,202 Anti-aircraft
• 57,851 Aircraft Engines director units
• 26,979 Tank Engines • 1000 M-4 Sherman
Tanks
• 283,354 Jeeps • 1,038 M-10 Tank
• 12,778 Amphibious Destroyers
Jeeps • 7,053 Bomb Trucks
• 77,604 G8T Trucks • 8,219 Cargo Trucks
• 17,008 Aircraft Drop • 9,498 Tents
Tanks • 3,025 Aircraft Tugs
(Cowdery 2001)

21. Ford Motor Company
Willow Run Bomber Plant
• With War looming on the horizon, the Army Air Corps
asked Ford to become a manufacturer of the B-24
bomber.
• In March of 1941, construction began on the Willow
Run Bomber plant. Designed by the same man who
designed the Warren tank plant, Albert Kahn.
• The building would dedicate 7,069,000 square feet of
floor space to the construction of the heavy bomber
(Kidder 1995).
• Once everything was in place, the plant was producing
close to one airplane each hour or 23 per day!
• By wars end, Willow Run had 6,792 aircraft fly out of
the factory airfield, and another 1,894 shipped to be
finish assembled at other facilities (Kidder 1995).

22. Ford’s Willow Run Bomber Plant
Scan from Yankee Air Museum

23. Chrysler on Tracks and Tread
• Chrysler also played a huge roll in the American
war effort as a part of “the Arsenal of
Democracy”.
• Among other facilities, Chrysler operated the
Warren Arsenal tank plant.
• Through the course of the war they were able to
turn out 25,000 tanks (Davis 2007).
– More than the entirety of total German tank
production for the war.
• Chrysler also made 3.5 billion rifle and pistol
cartridge cases, 225,000 trucks, and more than
18,000 aircraft engines (Davis 2007).

24. Laying of the wood block floor at the
Warren Tank Plant (1941).
www.life.com

25. The Warren Tank plant in full
production (1942).
www.life.com

26. A Few other Michigan Companies
Involved in War Production…
Aeronautical Products Inc Differential Wheel Corp Packard Motor Car Co
Allied Chemical & Dye Corp Eaton Mfg Co - Spring Div Parker Wolverine Co
American Metal Products Co Eclipse Counterbore Co Plymouth Steel Co
American Radiator and Standard Sanitary Corp, American Eureka Vacuum Cleaner Co Putnam Tool Co
Blower Corp Ex-cell-o Corp Rafco Tool and Mfg Co
Apex Broach Co Inc Federal Mogul Corp Redford Tool and Die Co
Arrow Tool and Reamer Co Federal Screw Works Republic Aircraft Products Div
Asam Mfg Co Fisher Body Div Revere Copper & Brass Inc
Bower Roller Bearing Co Ford Motor Co Lincoln Plant Rotary Electric Steel Co
Briggs Mfg Co Gemmer Mfg Co S and S Tool and Mfg Co
Budd Wheel Co General Electric Co Sal Way Steel Treating Co
Bundy Tubing Co Cadillac Motor Car Div Shatterproof Glass Co
Burroughs Adding Machine Co Graf V L Co Sherwood Brass Works
Cabot Carbon Co Graham Paige Motors Corp Sperry Corp, Vickers Inc
Castoloy Corp Greenfield Tab and Die Corp Steel Materials Corp
Champion Spark Plug Co Holley Carburetor Co Ternstedt Mfg Div
Chicago Pneumatic Tool Co Huck Mfg Co Timbeam Inc
Chrysler Kercheval Plant Hudson Motor Car Co Timken Detroit Axle Co
Chrysler Desoto Plant Hupp Motor Car Co Tompkins Printing Equipment Co
Chrysler Jefferson Plant Jacobs Aircraft Engine Co Tungsten Carbide Tool Co
Chrysler Plymouth Plant Kelsey-Hayes Wheel Co U S Broach Co
Colman Frederick and Sons Inc Long Mfg Div United Drill and Tool Corp – Whitman & Barnes?
Colonial Broach Co Lyon Inc Vinco Corp
Continental Die Casting Co McCord Corp Welch Industries Inc
Continental Motors Corp McLaren Screw Products Co Wolverine Tube Co
Cross Gear and Machine Co Michigan Die Casting Co Woodall Industries Inc
Dalzen Tool and Mfg Co Michigan Steel Casting Co Young L A Spring & Wire Corp
Detroit Broach Co Inc Michigan Steel Tube Products Co Palmer-Bee Co
Detroit Brass & Malleable Works Michigan Tool Co Standard Tube Co
Detroit Cutboard Products Corp Micromatic Hone Corp Chrysler Dodge Bros Main Plant
Detroit Diesel Engine Div Midwest Tool and Mfg Co Detroit Tap and Tool Co
Detroit Gear - Aircraft Parts Div Motor Products Corp Gear Grinding Machine Co
Detroit Gear - Machine Div Motor Tool Mfg Co Ex-cell-o Corp
Detroit Gear - Machine Div Murchey Machine and Tool Co Ford Motor Co
Detroit Harvester Co Murray Corp of America Chrysler Highland Park Plant
Detroit Lubricator Co National Broach Fargo Motor Corp
Detroit Reamer and Tool Co Nash Kelvinator Corp National Twist Drill and Tool Co
Detroit Transmission Div National Tool Salvage Co Detroit Universal Duplicator Corp
http://www.heritageresearch.com/ourlibrary/databases/wwii/authorized/michigan.htm

27. A Notable Product…the Steel Pot
• The United States made 22 Million M1 Helmets in WWII.
– 20 Million were made in Detroit by McCord Radiator
Co. An average of 16,000 helmets each day! (Arnold
1997).
• The liners were made in Michigan too.
– 600,000 by Capac Plastics located in Capac.
– 450,000 by St. Clair Rubber Company located in
Marysville (Arnold 1997).
M1helmet.com

28. A Notable Product… Buckley Class
Destroyer Escorts and Landing Craft
• During WWII Defoe Shipbuilders of Saginaw built
several types of ships for the effort, but their largest
contribution were 28 Buckley Class Destroyer Escorts
and 47 Landing Craft Infantry, Large (LCI(L)) (Cowdery
2001).
Scans from Michigan Military Technical & Historical Society Collection

29. A Recap
• The state of Michigan was known as “the Arsenal of
Democracy” during WWII because of its massive
production efforts.
• The Arsenal of Democracy was made up of many
thousands of companies and businesses throughout
the state.
– Without them turning out the bits and pieces that
would end up as a finished product, success would
have been impossible.
• It kept the free world afloat with an unending supply of
the vital materials it needed to wage war against the
German and Japanese aggressors.
• It introduced women to the workforce in large
numbers and spurred on the feminist movement.
• Without Michigan’s industries and people the outcome
of WWII may have been very different.

30. References
• Arnold, C. (1997). Steel Pots. San Hose, R. James Bender Publishing.
• Cowdery, R. (2001). All-American Wonder. Minneapolis, MN: Victory
WW2 Publishing Ltd.
• Davis, M. (2007). Detroit’s Wartime Industry, Arsenal of Democracy.
Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.
• Kidder, W. (1995). Willow Run, Colossus of American Industry. USA:
Harpers Collins Publishers, Inc.
• Wrynn, D. (1993). Detroit Goes to War. Osceola, WI: Motorbooks
International Publishers & Wholesalers.
• Heritage Research Center. WWII Industrial Facilities: Authorized
Federally Funded Facilities. 10/8/10
http://www.heritageresearch.com/ourlibrary/databases/wwii/auth
orized/michigan.htm
• Rosie the Riveter by the Four Vagabonds. Youtube. 10/7/10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CQ0M0wx00s
• Roosevelt, F. (1940). Fireside Chat 16. Miller Center of Public Affairs,
University of Virginia. 10/7/10.
http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3319

31. Grade Level Content Expectation
7.2.3 Impact of WWII on American Life – Analyze
the changes in American life brought about by
U.S. participation in World War II including.
• mobilization of economic, military, and social
resources
• role of women and minorities in the war effort
• role of the home front in supporting the war
effort (e.g., rationing, work hours, taxes)
HIGH SCHOOL SOCIAL STUDIES CONTENT EXPECTATIONS, V.
10/07, MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION