Synopses & Reviews
A
New York Times Bestseller
A dramatic, intimate narrative of how Ford Motor Company went from making automobiles to producing the airplanes that would mean the difference between winning and losing World War II.
In 1941, as Hitler's threat loomed ever larger, President Roosevelt realized he needed weaponry to fight the Nazis — most important, airplanes — and he needed them fast. So he turned to Detroit and the auto industry for help.
The Arsenal of Democracy tells the incredible story of how Detroit answered the call, centering on Henry Ford and his tortured son Edsel, who, when asked if they could deliver 50,000 airplanes, made an outrageous claim: Ford Motor Company would erect a plant that could yield a “bomber an hour.” Critics scoffed: Ford didn't make planes; they made simple, affordable cars. But bucking his father's resistance, Edsel charged ahead. Ford would apply assembly-line production to the American military's largest, fastest, most destructive bomber; they would build a plant vast in size and ambition on a plot of farmland and call it Willow Run; they would bring in tens of thousands of workers from across the country, transforming Detroit, almost overnight, from Motor City to the “great arsenal of democracy.” And eventually they would help the Allies win the war.
Drawing on exhaustive research from the Ford Archives, the National Archives, and the FDR Library, A. J. Baime has crafted an enthralling, character-driven narrative of American innovation that has never been fully told, leaving readers with a vivid new portrait of America — and Detroit — during the war.
Review
"Wars are fought on many fronts, and A.J. Baime chronicles this little known, but terrifically important battle to build America's bomber force with narrative zest and delicious detail. Put simply, it's a great read." Neal Bascomb, bestselling author of Hunting Eichmann and The Perfect Mile
Review
“[Edsel Ford] has deserved a better legacy, and A.J. Baime has given it to him....The Arsenal of Democracy is a touching and absorbing portrait of one of the forgotten heroes of World War II....A.J. Baime has given us a memorable portrait not just of an industry going to war but of a remarkable figure who helped to make victory possible.” Wall Street Journal
Review
"A.J. Baime has a gift for taking stories about cars and turning them into epic tales of man and his machine versus other man and his machine…The Arsenal of Democracy shows how capitalism and the American spirit really won WWII. You'll never look at Detroit or our flag the same again." Inked
Review
"When you talk the history of Detroit, it's usually the stuff about beavers, the Model T, the '57 Chevy, the '67 riots and bankruptcy. But what A.J. Baime has done with a precise and entertaining pen is resurrect Detroit's most important era — WWII — and the obscure and tortured man who may have saved the world." Charlie LeDuff, author of Detroit: An American Autopsy
Review
"Wars are fought on many fronts, and A.J. Baime chronicles this little known, but terrifically important battle to build America's bomber force with narrative zest and delicious detail. Put simply, it's a great read." Neal Bascomb, bestselling author of Hunting Eichmann and The Perfect Mile
Synopsis
The story of the dramatic transformation of Detroit from "motortown" to the "arsenal of democracy," featuring Edsel Ford, who rebelled against his pacifist father, Henry Ford, to build the industrial miracle Willow Run, a manufacturing complex capable of producing B-24 Liberator bombers at a rate of one per hour — a crucial component in winning the war.
About the Author
A.J. Baime is the author of Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari, and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans (currently in development for a major motion picture by 20th Century Fox). He is a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal and an editor-at-large at Playboy.
Table of Contents
Introduction xi
Prologue xiii
PART I. The Motor City
1. Henry 3
2. The Machine Is the New Messiah 9
3. Edsel 16
4. Learning to Fly 23
5. Father vs. Son 31
6. The Ford Terror 39
7. The Nazi Connection 50
PART II. The Liberator
8. Fifty Thousand Airplanes 65
9. “Gentlemen, We Must Outbuild Hitler” 75
10. The Liberator 86
11. Willow Run 99
12. Awakening 106
13. Strike! 115
14. Air Raid! 122
PART III. The Big One
15. The Grim Race 129
16. “Detroits Worries Are Right Now” 141
17. Will It Run? 150
18. Bomber Ship 01 160
19. Roosevelt Visits Willow Run 167
20. A Dying Man 175
PART IV. The Rise of American Airpower
21. Unconditional Surrender 185
22. Taking Flight 195
23. “The Arsenal of Democracy Is Making Good” 206
24. Death in Dearborn 215
PART V. The Battle of Dearborn
25. Operation Tidal Wave 229
26. The Detroit Race Riot of 1943 239
27. “The United States Is the Country of Machines” 250
28. Ford War Production Exceeds Dreams 258
29. D-Day 269
30. The Final Battle 278 Epilogue 285
A Note on the Text and Acknolwedgments 293
Notes 297
Index 343