Dress Rehearsal for the Arsenal of Democracy: Michigan's Auto Industry and Wwi War Production

The United States entered World War I in April of 1917, breaking a tradition of isolationism from European affairs that stretched back to the founding of the nation. The founding fathers had created a system based on the distrust of a standing army and the arms industry, so the United States stepped into the World War wholly unprepared. The war had been raging in Europe for nearly three years, and the warring nations had embraced technology to perfect killing by mass production. Once the United States made the decision to declare war, the government found itself ill prepared for the massive logistical effort required to stand up, equip and train an army for deployment to fight a war on foreign shores. Some members of Michigan's fledgling auto industry had advocated for preparedness as Europe plunged into war, and once the US officially entered the war, the auto industry rose to the challenge and answered the nation's call for equipment and munitions. The effort was, in the words of the Ordnance Corps "a remarkable performance," however most of the products arrived too late to have an impact on the outcome of the war. After WWI, politicians and historians criticized many of the companies who made products for the war effort for spending large amounts of taxpayer's money with little effect, and branded them as "Merchants of Death." However, the situation was not due to any incompetence or greed on the part of the manufacturers, but because the United States was not at war long enough to overcome an unprepared and deeply flawed government acquisition system. Focusing on the automotive industry in southeast Michigan using period industry journals and surviving primary source documents from government agencies and the automotive industry, a different picture emerges. It is an image of corporate America where industry leaders volunteer their expertise for little or no compensation, working with the government to build an arms industry in less than a years' time. It was not a perfect effort, with mistakes made by all parties involved. The sudden collapse of Germany in October 1918 ended the effort before it was able to make a real impact on the outcome of the war, giving the illusion of a wasted effort.