Divided Arsenal: Race and the American State During World War II

By Daniel Kryder

Book Overview

Divided Arsenal compares the causes and effects of federal race policy during World War II in factories, the Army, and agriculture. While scholars such as Gunner Mydrdal have suggested that wars promote the salience of the nation's founding democratic and egalitarian ideals, two imperatives - the mobilization of industrial production and the maintenance of the New Deal Coalition - outweigh the goals of interracial reform. The history of industrial employment policies confirms the role of party and war-fighting concerns in the creation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee and the committee's investigative casework. While military racial policies were initially repressive, by spurring black soldier resistance they paradoxically facilitated steps toward desegregation by transforming the executive's calculation of military efficiency. Important similarities in the timing and quality of reform in the three fields indicate that war-fighting concerns affected policy outcomes despite variations in African-American political and economic opportunities in various sectors and sections.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521593387
• ISBN13: 9780521593380
• Release Date: February 2000
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

An intriguing alternative survey of reform limitations.

This surveys racial climate in America during World War II, an era which led to the reform of federal racial policies - a reform which proved limited at best. This considers the wartime role of blacks in the army and at home, considering both government goals and how limited racial reforms served larger federal concerns. An intriguing alternative survey of why reforms were so limited.Diane C. Donovan Reviewer