On September 1st 1939, Hitler attacked Poland. At the time, the US military was only about the size of Holland’s. Some of its weapons dated back to the Civil War.
In less than 6 years, America went from having almost no military to winning WWII. This is the story of Freedom’s Forge.
The Race to Rearm
As Poland and France fell and Britain came under attack, President Roosevelt knew the US had to prepare for war. But who should lead the effort?
FDR asked his contacts in industry. One name kept coming up: Bill Knudsen.
“Big Bill” Knudsen was the president of General Motors. At GM, and earlier at Ford, he had set up the first systems of mass production.
FDR asked him to do it again. The Danish immigrant immediately accepted, even though the government couldn’t offer him a salary.
“This country has been good to me, and I want to pay it back.”
Knudsen quickly put out weapons contracts to America’s leading manufacturers. GM built tanks, Ford airplanes.
Before I read Freedom’s Forge, I always thought the government told companies what to make. But that’s not what happened.
Knudsen merely told executives what he needed. And they put in bids.
Most of these companies had never made weapons before. But they were experts in mass production.
They puzzled over blueprints from the military, working backward until they had a product.
Bit by bit, America’s free enterprise system ramped up.
Winning the War
Once America’s war industries began to produce, the output was staggering. By 1942, America was producing more arms than the entire Axis combined.
Tank production reached 25,000, up from just a few hundred before the war. Planes, nearly 50,000. Factories also churned out an incredible 10 million rounds of small arms ammo.
Some of these weapons went to our allies. Some rearmed our own forces.
Knudsen and the administration did everything they could to remove barriers to production.
They gave loans to manufacturers to help them convert to war production. Knudsen immersed himself in detail, making sure the right tools got to the right factories.
Bit by bit, the tables began to turn.
What I Learned
Today, the business problems we face are much more prosaic. And I’m grateful for that.
But the story of America’s rearmament shows how important it is to set crazy goals.
Before the war, America made just a handful of new planes per year. By 1944, we produced nearly 100,000 a year.
Almost everyone thought that growth like this was impossible. And yet, we’d need that many planes to win the war.
So they buckled down and increased production, step by step. And sure enough, they did it.
Freedom’s Forge also shows the value of hiring outsiders with the right expertise.
Knudsen had 0 experience in armaments when he started. But he was an expert in mass production.
Not knowing how the armaments industry usually worked was an advantage. Knudsen rejected traditional craftsman-style production in favor of assembly lines like those he built at GM.
This let America produce weapons like never before.
Wrap-Up
Knudsen took a defenseless country and made us a military powerhouse. In him, I recognize some of the traits I see in the best startup founders today.
He worked tirelessly for free. He knew the big picture, but immersed himself in the tiniest details as well. He came from outside the industry, but brought with him unique insights.
In our more peaceful times, we still need Bill Knudsens. People who don’t care what’s impossible.
People who will not be stopped.
“All of us have a duty to perform in this world.”
Bill Knudsen
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