V Is for Victory: Franklin Roosevelt’s American Revolution and the Triumph of World War II

Historian Nelson (Rocket Men) claims in this comprehensive and colorful account that Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal kicked off a third American Revolution that pulled the nation out of the Great Depression and tipped the scales toward Allied victory in WWII. As Adolf Hitler’s rise to power unsettled the world, Roosevelt became convinced that the “full-throttle unleashing of American enterprise” was the secret weapon to defeating Nazi Germany. New Deal programs such as the National Recovery Administration gave corporate and government managers experiences working together that were critical to organizing the war effort and laid the groundwork for the American corporate profits to double between 1941 and 1945. In addition to thoroughly debunking Roosevelt’s anti-business reputation, Nelson details how William Knudsen, Henry Ford, and other corporate leaders turned their factories into assembly lines churning out ships, planes, and tanks, and notes that Chrysler produced “more tanks from one Detroit factory than the Nazis produced over the whole of the war.” Light is also shed on the lend-lease and cash-and-carry programs that helped supply Britain and France with military equipment before the U.S. entered the war. Deeply researched and fluidly written, this is a rousing portrait of the partnership between America’s public and private sectors firing on all cylinders. (May)