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75 chapter six Surviving FDR Although the early summer heat was as sti¶ing as ever in the nation ’s capital, of¤cials there were breathing much easier than they had been several months earlier—not because of the weather, but because of the political situation. It was June 1939, and the tension that followed the Munich crisis the previous fall was quickly dissipating. The war clouds that had seemed so ominous just months before appeared to be breaking—perhaps Hitler had at last seized control of all the territory he coveted. Even President Roosevelt was indicating to close friends his belief that the prospects for war were fading.1 What was past was past, and most Americans did not look back; the Depression was something they wanted to forget. Fortunately, things appeared to be looking up—the economy registered its greatest strength in nearly ten years. Of immediate interest was the visit of the king and queen of England to America. George VI was the ¤rst British monarch to set foot in the United States while ruling, and he received all the pomp and ceremony of¤cial Washington could muster. The hope of the future seemed to be exempli¤ed by the World’s Fair which opened in New York City. The fair focused on a world of tomorrow with its promise of less work and more leisure made possible in large part by technological advances. The mood in America was upbeat. Not everyone, however, embraced the new mood of optimism, and one who clearly did not was Louis Johnson. The assistant secretary of war still believed that Europe was headed for war. He feared that the United States would be drawn into the con¶ict without being militarily prepared. He was convinced that the president’s rejection of his $2.1 billion air and ground rearmament proposals six months before was a major national blunder; he felt that Hitler 76 louis johnson and the arming of america would again ¶ex his muscles and that the rest of the world would have nothing with which to stop or even slow down his thirst for conquest.2 Despite the fact that Johnson had lost his privileged position at the White House, he continued to strive for the military preparedness which he considered critical to the survival of the nation. He labored long and hard to complete the revision of the proposed 1939Industrial Mobilization Plan, he expanded the educational orders program, he laid the foundation for a program to stockpile strategic materials, he continued to publicly advocate air rearmament, and he spent hundreds of hours on Capitol Hill trying to convince Congress to support legislation bene¤cial to the army and defense programs in general.3 By mid-spring of 1939, the assistant secretary had ingratiated himself once more with FDR. While Johnson’s star was once again rising with the president, the bureaucrats responsible for juggling competing demands for of¤ce space in Washington sent Johnson a mixed message. In the summer of 1939, they decreed that Johnson and the War Department would have to move down to the old Munitions Building on the Constitution Avenue side of the Mall near the Lincoln Memorial. On the one hand, the order to move meant that Johnson was beginning to build an empire that would soon colonize not only the Munitions Building but also some twenty other buildings in the Washington area. On the other hand, Johnson would no longer occupy his geographically privileged of¤ce only a few footsteps from the president. He would be moving to a crumbling and sagging World War I–era “temporary” wooden building with squeaky¶oors and water-stained walls and ceilings.4 Rise and Fall of the War Resources Board As Johnson’s ability to assert himself with the president grew and as the revision of the Industrial Mobilization Plan neared completion, he began a push to establish the superagency that he felt was absolutely essential to the nation’s success in the coming armed con¶ict—a War Resources Administration. From mid-1937 through 1938, he had urged the establishment of a civilian advisory board to study the Mobilization Plan and make recommendations about how it could be improved and carried out. He hoped that the group could address the question of just how American industry could provide for the nation’s defense in time of all-out war. Roosevelt, fearing anything along the lines of the powerful War Industries Board headed by Baruch...

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