Office of War Mobilization



Office of War Mobilization

In early 1943 the president was being pushed to establish a war mobilization office by Senator Harry Truman and his committee. Truman's committee and other congressional investigative committees were dismayed by the lack of unity in the industrial effort and demanded a single civilian-directed procurement agency for all Army, Navy, Maritime Commission, and Lend-Lease needs. Truman knew that Nelson had much more authority than he exercised and therefore called for a War Mobilization Board, stating that he would create one by legislation if Roosevelt did not take the initiative. (Other efforts also fostered the establishment of the Office of War Mobilization.[1]

Given an office in the White House, Byrnes soon was regarded as second only to the President on the home front, and, with his frequent exhibition of confidence in Byrnes, the President helped established public and governmental understanding and recognition of his position. OWM operated with a small staff, which Byrnes instructed not to constitute an isolating layer between the director and the heads of agencies but to facilitate the relations of the director with agency heads. A small staff prevented OWM from engaging in administrative activities and operations and from undertaking or interfering with the normal functions of other agencies. It was also inadequate to perform the type of central planning function which many people considered OWM's most important duty. However, this was not a limitation in Byrnes's view, for he felt that most planning should be conducted at agency levels and that it was his job primarily to coordinate such plans. A concise, clear understanding of OWM's functions was offered in a July 27, 1943, memorandum on the general plan for the operation of the agency.

For its part, the Senate Military Affairs Committee recognized the weaknesses in the War Production Board. There were too many agencies with a say in too many parts of the economy for efficiency. The press was also vocal in its criticism. Roosevelt either sensed the pressure or understood the necessity, or both, and created by executive order the new office, designating a handful of government officials as advisers (Nelson was one of the five), and chartered the Office of War Mobilization to develop unified programs and to establish policies for the maximum use of the Nation's natural and industrial resources for military and civilian needs, for the effective use of the national manpower not in the armed forces, for the maintenance and stabilization of the civilian economy, and for the adjustment of such economy to war needs and conditions.[2]

The key to the Executive Order was in this sentence: "To unify the activities of the Federal agencies and departments engaged in or concerned with production, procurement, distribution or transportation of military or civilian supplies, materials, and products and to resolve and determine controversies between such agencies or departments. The new office could issue "directives and policies" to carry out its charter, and it shall be the duty of all such agencies and departments to execute these ...