Office of War Mobilization

Office of War Mobilization (OWM) was created May 1943 under Jimmy Byrnes, replaced Office of Economic Stabilization, shared power with Donald Nelson until Nelson resigned 1944. Byrnes became the "assistant president" to oversee military and civilian priorities and centralized authority over production and manpower. The need for such centralization arose as a result of the Feasibility Dispute of 1942. Simon Kuznets of WPB issued a study that warned the economy was unable to meet demands of military's $90b in orders. After a confrontation in Donald Nelson's office Oct. 6 between the military, led by Army Undersecretary Robert Patterson with Gen. Brehon B. Somervell who ran the Army Service Force, and the civilians led by OPA's Leon Henderson with VP Henry Wallace. The military agreed to cut orders by $13b, reduce the army by 300,000, and lengthen production schedules, but Nelson and Byrnes would give the big military contractors what they needed. The Controlled Materials Plan of Nov. 1942 gave advantage to large corporations over allocation of raw materials, and the biggest 100 companies got 2/3 military contracts. Small companies under 100 employees declined from 26% to 19% of total manufacturing employment by the end of the war. Henderson resigned from OPA in Dec. 1942, another blow to the shrinking influence of New Dealers.

Sources:

• Geoffrey Perrett. Days of Sadness, Years of Triumph. The American people 1939-1945. Penguin, 1973.
• James Byrnes Scholars
• Mobilization and Women in Army History from the Center for Military History

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