In 1938, when Nazi Germany seized land from Czechoslovakia, the military force of an isolationist United States was smaller than Portugal’s. But that same year, President Franklin Roosevelt’s order to dramatically expand domestic U.S. airplane production was the first step in the monumental transformation of American enterprise that brought victory in World War II, as well as ended the great Depression, gave rise to middle-class affluence and a consumer society, and triggered an economic, military, and scientific boom that turned America into the undisputed leader of world affairs.

Historian Craig Nelson shares how FDR’s skillful leadership turned a nation wary of war into an arsenal of democracy ready to take on the dangers of another world war. Nelson’s book V Is for Victory (Simon and Schuster) is available for purchase.

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• Purchase your copy of V Is for Victory by Craig Nelson here.
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