Book Pick: The Arsenal of Democracy, by A.J. Baime

Subtitled 'FDR, Detroit, and An Epic Quest to Arm an America at War', this book reveals the astonishing story of the Ford Motor Company's 1,500 acre Willow Run plant which churned out 8,685 massive four engine B-24 Liberator bombers between 1941 and 1945. Willow Run was the largest and most complex symbol of how American manufacturing, led by the automotive industry, turned Detroit into the 'Arsenal of Democracy', producing 30% of all US military equipment during WWII. But 'Arsenal' is also a saga of the Ford family and the battle for the soul of Ford Motor Company which nearly collapsed under aging and debilitated founder Henry Ford, a virulent anti-Semite, idolater of Adolf Hitler who presented him with the Grand Cross of the German Eagle Medal, and ardent foe of FDR. It was Henry's brilliant son Edsel and chief of production Charlie Sorensen, who, early in 1941, devised on a sheet paper the concept of a nearly mile long plant to build the giant B-24's on an automobile style assembly line at the scoffed at target of one per hour. The B-24's were being ground out virtually hand made like Rolls Royce cars by their developer Consolidate Aircraft. FDR called for an "Arsenal of Democracy" to crank out 60,000 planes to win the war. Willow Run was Edsel and Sorensen's answer. The obstacles to building Willow Run, 27 miles from downtown Detroit, the adjoining airfield, and Bomber City, the 400 acre facility to house many of the 80,000 workers who toiled on the B-24 assembly line, were herculean. While all this was going on, Edsel literally worked himself to death in 1943 fending off both the opposition of his now delusional father and the machinations of Henry's security chief Harry Bennet who commanded a thousand strong security force which terrorized auto workers and executive alike, including Edsel and Sorensen. As a War bird fanatic who has flown on one of the two remaining flying of the 18,462 B-24's produced (47% by Ford), I have an even deeper appreciation of this magnificent airplane and the visionary folks who made its mass production possible.

Did Ford hit the promised one B-24 per hour? Who backed down when Bennett and John Bogus (the Ford family's opposition security chief) drew guns on each other the day Bogus came to fire Bennett? Read for yourself. 'Arsenal of Democracy' is more exciting than any fiction that can be imagined.