Apt Pupil: Dwight Eisenhower and the 1930 Industrial Mobilization Plan

This article takes the view that Dwight D. Eisenhower's work as a staff officer in the War Department in the early 1930s was significant not only for his own career, but also for the United States. In these years, Eisenhower wrote the first detailed industrial mobilization plan, the blueprint the nation would follow if it entered a major war. Though not formally implemented in 1941, much of Eisenhower's plan provided the basis for a more efficient transition to war production than had occurred during World War I. Moreover, his work enhanced his reputation in the Army.