US HistoryMr. Mize

Arsenal of Democracy

THE INDUSTRIAL RESPONSE Within weeks of the shutdown in production, the nation’s automobile plants had been retooled to produce tanks, planes, boats, and command cars. They were not alone. Across the nation, factories were quickly converted to war production. A maker of mechanical pencils turned out bomb parts. A bedspread manufacturer made mosquito netting. A soft-drink company converted from filling bottles with liquid to filling shells with explosives.

On Aug. 15, 1940, the Army contracted with Chrysler to create the Nation’s first government-owned, contractor-operated facility at the Detroit Arsenal Tank Plant in Warren, MI. This plant became known as the Arsenal of Democracy

and has been pivotal in Army engineering ever since. Scene depicts production of M4A4 Sherman Tanks some time during 1942

Willow Run, also known as Air Force Plant 31, was a manufacturing complex in Michigan, located between Ypsilanti Township and Belleville, constructed by the Ford Motor Company for the mass production of aircraft, especially the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. Construction of the Willow Run Bomber Plant began in 1940

and was completed in 1942.

The Army also asked Buick to design a new kind of war machine: the tank destroyer. The specs called for a lightly armored, highly mobile tracked

vehicle fitted with a 37mm cannon in a 360-degree turret. The vehicle was officially known as the M-18, but Buick workers dubbed it the "Hellcat." Production of the M18 Hellcat began in mid-1943 and ended in October 1944. The Hellcat was assembled on the Buick line in Flint. The division eventually built 2,507 M-18s.

In your journals answer the following questions using complete sentences and evidence from this worksheet.

1. Describe the roll that Detroit played in WWII.2. When was the Detroit war production likely at its height?3. Explain how the 2nd graph could reveal how the industrial production was

accomplished.

Reflect:4. In a speech in 1940 FDR claim that the US would be the arsenal of democracy. In

your own words what does this mean?