Detroit's Wartime Industry

Detroit's Wartime Industry
Author: Michael W. R. Davis
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2007
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780738551647

Just as Detroit symbolizes the U.S. automobile industry, during World War II it also came to stand for all American industry's conversion from civilian goods to war material. The label "Arsenal of Democracy" was coined by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt in a fireside chat radio broadcast on December 29, 1940, nearly a year before the United States formally entered the war. Here is the pictorial story of one Detroiter's unique leadership in the miraculous speed Detroit's mass-production capacity was shifted to output of tanks, trucks, guns, and airplanes to support America's victory and of the struggles of civilians on the home front.

Arsenal of Democracy

Arsenal of Democracy
Author: Charles K. Hyde
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2013-10-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814339522

Examines the role of the American automobile industry in producing vehicles, weapons, and other war products during World War II. Throughout World War II, Detroit's automobile manufacturers accounted for one-fifth of the dollar value of the nation's total war production, and this amazing output from "the arsenal of democracy" directly contributed to the allied victory. In fact, automobile makers achieved such production miracles that many of their methods were adopted by other defense industries, particularly the aircraft industry. In Arsenal of Democracy: The American Automobile Industry in World War II,award-winning historian Charles K. Hyde details the industry's transition to a wartime production powerhouse and some of its notable achievements along the way. Hyde examines several innovative cooperative relationships that developed between the executive branch of the federal government, U.S. military services, automobile industry leaders, auto industry suppliers, and the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union, which set up the industry to achieve production miracles. He goes on to examine the struggles and achievements of individual automakers during the war years in producing items like aircraft engines, aircraft components, and complete aircraft; tanks and other armored vehicles; jeeps, trucks, and amphibians; guns, shells, and bullets of all types; and a wide range of other weapons and war goods ranging from search lights to submarine nets and gyroscopes. Hyde also considers the important role played by previously underused workers-namely African Americans and women-in the war effort and their experiences on the line. Arsenal of Democracy includes an analysis of wartime production nationally, on the automotive industry level, by individual automakers, and at the single plant level. For this thorough history, Hyde has consulted previously overlooked records collected by the Automobile Manufacturers Association that are now housed in the National Automotive History Collection of the Detroit Public Library. Automotive historians, World War II scholars, and American history buffs will welcome the compelling look at wartime industry in Arsenal of Democracy.

The Arsenal of Democracy

The Arsenal of Democracy
Author: Albert J. Baime
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2014
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0547719280

Chronicles Detroit's dramatic transition from an automobile manufacturing center to a highly efficient producer of World War II airplanes, citing the essential role of Edsel Ford's rebellion against his father, Henry Ford.

Detroit's Wartime Industry

Detroit's Wartime Industry
Author: Michael W. R. Davis
Publisher: Arcadia Library Editions
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2007-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9781531632168

Just as Detroit symbolizes the U.S. automobile industry, during World War II it also came to stand for all American industry's conversion from civilian goods to war material. The label "Arsenal of Democracy" was coined by Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt in a fireside chat radio broadcast on December 29, 1940, nearly a year before the United States formally entered the war. Here is the pictorial story of one Detroiter's unique leadership in the miraculous speed Detroit's mass-production capacity was shifted to output of tanks, trucks, guns, and airplanes to support America's victory and of the struggles of civilians on the home front.

"Old Slow Town"

Author: Paul Taylor
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2013-10-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0814339301

Readers interested in American history, Civil War history, or the ethnic history of Detroit will appreciate the full picture of the time period Taylor presents in "Old Slow Town."

Run Home If You Don't Want to Be Killed

Run Home If You Don't Want to Be Killed
Author: Rachel Marie-Crane Williams
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2021-02-25
Genre: Comics & Graphic Novels
ISBN: 1469663287

In the heat of June in 1943, a wave of destructive and deadly civil unrest took place in the streets of Detroit. The city was under the pressures of both wartime industrial production and the nascent civil rights movement, setting the stage for massive turmoil and racial violence. Thirty-four people were killed, most of whom were Black, and over half of these were killed by police. Two thousand people were arrested, and over seven hundred sustained injuries requiring treatment at local hospitals. Property damage was estimated to be nearly $2 million. With Run Home If You Don't Want to Be Killed, Rachel Marie-Crane Williams delivers a graphic retelling of the racism and tension leading up to the violence of those summer days. By incorporating firsthand accounts collected by the NAACP and telling them through a combination of hand-drawn images, historical dialogue, and narration, Williams makes the history and impact of these events immediate, and in showing us what happened, she reminds us that many issues of the time—police brutality, state-sponsored oppression, economic disparity, white supremacy—plague our country to this day.

Detroit in World War I

Detroit in World War I
Author: Elizabeth Clemens
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2015-10-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1439653518

World War I was the catalyst that ushered in themes that would define the 20th century: industrialization, urbanization, and the struggle for equality between social classes, gender, and race. During this time, from 1914 to 1918, Detroit was a city rapidly on the rise, with spectacular economic, industrial, and population growth. These were years when some of the city's most beautiful structures were built, when its industry practices became the international standard, and when its population exploded with new, hopeful emigrants from across the globe. The war provided a unifying theme to a city struggling to define itself and caused its people to come together in new and unexpected ways to support the war effort at home and abroad, often stepping into unfamiliar roles outside of societal norms. Detroit in World War I offers a visual exploration of a city and a people caught in a time of dynamic change--from the men who served the cause to the communities they left behind--who rose to the challenge splendidly and helped create one of the 20th century's most remarkable and vibrant cities.

The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford

The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford
Author: Beth Tompkins Bates
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
Total Pages: 361
Release: 2012
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0807835641

In the 1920s, Henry Ford hired thousands of African American men for his open-shop system of auto manufacturing. This move was a rejection of the notion that better jobs were for white men only. In The Making of Black Detroit in the Age of Henry Ford