Divided Arsenal
Race and the American State during World War II

A comparison of the causes and effects of federal race policy during World War II.

Daniel Kryder (Author)

9780521593380, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 13 February 2000

320 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.64 kg

'Given the tremendous impact that the war had upon race relations in the USA, and the relative lack of studies on the subject, Divided Arsenal is a much-needed contribution to the field.' Journal of Contemporary History

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.

1. A divided arsenal: the problem and its setting
2. The executive and political imperatives: presidential campaigns and race management policies on the eve of war
3. The Executive and National Security Imperatives: unrest and early struggles over racial manpower policies
4. The racial politics of industrial employment: Central State Authority and the adjustment of factory work
5. The racial politics of army service: Central State Authority and the control of black soldier resistance
6. June 9, 1943: 'Negro soldier trouble' at Camp Stewart, Georgia
7. The racial politics of urban and rural unrest: monitoring agriculture and surveilling cities
8. 'America again at the crossroads': war, the state and social conflict.

Subject Areas: Politics & government [JP], Ethnic studies [JFSL], Second World War [HBWQ], History of the Americas [HBJK], African history [HBJH]