War Production Board

Examples of War Production Board in the following topics:

• Economic Controls

  • Three of them, the Office of Price Administration (OPA; est. 1941), the Office of Administrator of Export Control (est. 1940; its functions later transferred to the Economic Defense Board and in 1943 to the Office of Economic Warfare) and the War Production Board (WPB; est. 1943) were among the federal agencies in charge of controlling the economy so that the United States was able to meet the demands of World War II.
  • The War Production Board (WPB) was established as a government agency on January 16, 1942 by executive order of Franklin D.
  • Roosevelt, replacing the Supply Priorities and Allocation Board and the Office of Production Management.
  • The WPB directed conversion and expansion of peacetime industries to meet war needs, allocated scarce materials vital to war production, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, and prohibited non-essential production.
  • Describe the role of the Office of Price Administration, the Office of Administrator of Export Control, and the War Production Board in controlling the U.S. economy during WWII.

• Economic Conversion

  • The Office of Production Management (OPM) and the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board were both in charge of how natural resources were used for the war effort.
  • The most powerful of all war-time organizations whose task was to control the economy was the War Production Board (WPB), established by Roosevelt on January 16, 1942 by executive order.
  • Its purpose was to regulate the production of materials during World War II in the United States.
  • The War Production Board was dissolved shortly after the defeat of Japan in 1945, and was replaced by the Civilian Production Administration in late 1945.
  • Describe how the War Production Board and the transition to a wartime economy helped stimulate U.S. economic growth.

• Homefront Security

  • During World War II, millions of American civilians were recruited by civil defense government programs to serve as volunteers and aid the war effort.
  • However, CND was replaced by the Office of Production Management in 1941, which was soon replaced by the War Production Board.
  • The WPB directed conversion of industries from peacetime work to war needs, allocated scarce materials, established priorities in the distribution of materials and services, and prohibited nonessential production. 
  • It was dissolved shortly after the defeat of Japan in 1945, and was replaced by the Civilian Production Administration in late 1945.
  • By the end of the war, CAP pilots had flown more than 500,000 mission hours.

• The Wilson Administration

  • A complex business-government partnership that to this day dominates the financial world, the Federal Reserve System played a major role in financing the Allied and American war efforts during the two World Wars.
  • In April 1917, Wilson asked Congress to declare war.
  • On the home front in 1917, he began the first U.S. draft since the American Civil War, borrowed billions of dollars in funding through the newly established Federal Reserve Bank and Liberty Bonds, set up the War Industries Board, promoted labor union cooperation, supervised agriculture and food production through the Lever Act, took control of the railroads, and suppressed anti-war movements.
  • In 1918, he issued his Fourteen Points, an international relations blueprint intended to avoid another war.
  • Summarize Wilson's Progressive Democratic agenda and his involvement in World War I

• America and WWI

  • Therefore the federal government (and states as well) set up a multitude of temporary agencies to bring together the expertise necessary to redirect the economy and society into the production of munitions and food necessary for the war, as well as the production of ideas necessary to motivate the people.
  • Food Administration, the War Industries Board, and the National War Labor Board.
  • The War Industries Board (WIB), created in the mid-summer of 1917, was another federal agency tasked with ensuring that Americans at home and abroad had access to acceptably-priced merchandise and equipment.
  • Wilson created the National War Labor Board (NWLB) in 1918.
  • Food Administration, the War Industries Board, and the National War Labor Board.

• A New Labor Force

  • World War I saw a change in U.S. labor: women entered the workforce as never before, and labor unions gave firm support to war efforts.
  • As one of the first total wars, World War I mobilized women in unprecedented numbers on all sides .
  • The AFL unions strongly encouraged their young men to enlist in the military and fiercely opposed efforts to reduce recruiting and slow war production by the anti-war groups like the International Workers of the World (IWW) and left-wing Socialists.
  • To keep factories running smoothly, Wilson established the National War Labor Board in 1918, which forced management to negotiate with existing unions.
  • War gardeners, Washington, D.C. or vicinity, circa 1918.

• Mobilizing a Nation

  • Wilson, oversaw most of the wartime labor programs and included a War Labor Board to adjudicate disputes.
  • The Department of Labor’s new Employment Service attracted workers from the South and Midwest to war industries in the East and was used by federal production offices to hire fresh employees.
  • They fiercely opposed efforts to reduce recruiting and slow war production by groups like the International Workers of the World (IWW), which was controlled by anti-war socialists and subsequently shut down by the federal government.
  • To keep factories running smoothly, the president established the National War Labor Board in 1918, which forced management to negotiate with existing unions.
  • The campaign promoted the cultivation of available private and public lands, resulting in the production of foodstuff exceeding $1.2 billion by the end of the war.

• Conclusion: WWII and the U.S.

  • The middle class swelled, as did GDP and productivity.
  • Air transport was a major beneficiary of the war.
  • Additionally, radar had been developed during the war.
  • The aircraft industry had the highest productivity growth of any major industry, growing by 8.9% per year from 1929-1966.
  • After the Cold War began in 1947 and especially after the Korean War began in 1950, military spending soared.

• European Wars in the Colonies

  • The Spanish became suspicious that British ships were overreaching and began boarding and seizing British ships.
  • The war gained its colorful name from a Spanish threat against British captain Robert Jenkins, whose ear was severed when his ship was boarded; he was told to show his ear to Parliament and tell the king that the Spanish would do the same to him.
  • The war was largely subsumed by the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742.
  • Britain and France fought four wars that became known as the French and Indian Wars—followed in 1778 with another war when France joined the Americans in the American Revolution.
  • Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second war for control of the continent and was the counterpart of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe.

• Empires in Conflict

  • The Spanish became suspicious that British ships were overreaching, and began boarding and seizing British ships.
  • The war gained its colorful name from a Spanish threat against British captain Robert Jenkins, whose ear was severed when his ship was boarded; he was told to show his ear to Parliament and tell the king that the Spanish would do the same to him.
  • The war was largely subsumed by the War of the Austrian Succession in 1742.
  • Queen Anne's War (1702–1713) was the second war for control of the continent, and was the counterpart of the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe.
  • King George's War (1744–48) was the North American phase of the War of the Austrian Succession .