World War II was a war of production as well as of battles, campaigns, and strategies. As the United States Army faced its greatest challenge abroad in the form of the Axis military threat, soldiers and civilians on the American home front met an equally serious challenge: keeping the fighting men and the Allies supplied with the weapons, munitions, and other materiel needed to achieve victory. When vital war production was threatened by some of the most serious labor-management disputes in American history, the War Department intervened quickly and decisively, taking physical control of the affected industrial facilities and operating them under federal authority.
Although the length and depth of that control varied with the severity of the dispute, the nature of the enterprise, and the importance of the industry to the war effort, the federal government was at least able to continue production without resorting, as in the past, to the use of armed force. This, then, is the story of a small group of individuals in the War Department who were charged with the mission of guaranteeing that private companies provided the military goods that had been promised. Initially prepared by the individual most closely involved with this effort, John H. Ohly, this history shows how combined military and civilian teams, well-schooled in law and in modern business management, financial, and arbitration practices, settled repeated disputes without significant delays in production or, when necessary, operated war plants in the name of the federal government, peacefully and efficiently.

Download File Size:194.51 MB

---