NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - SELECTED BY THE ECONOMIST AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR Remarkable as it may seem today, there once was a time when the president of the United States could pick up the phone and ask the president of General Motors to resign his position and take the reins of a great national enterprise.
Drafting top talent from companies like Chrysler, Republic Steel, Boeing, Lockheed, GE, and Frigidaire, they turned auto plants into aircraft factories and civilian assembly lines.
Together, Knudsen and Kaiser created a wartime production behemoth.
His Liberty ships became World War II icons--and the Kaiser name became so admired that FDR briefly considered making him his vice president in 1944.
He, too, joined the cause.
Kaiser was a maverick California industrialist famed for his innovative Business techniques and his can-do management style.
Henry J.
Dubbed the "dollar-a-year men," these dedicated patriots quickly took charge of America\'s moribund war production effort.
C.
Commissioned a lieutenant general, Knudsen assembled a crack team of industrial innovators, persuading them one by one to leave their lucrative private sector positions and join him in Washington, D.
Army.
S.
Roosevelt enlisted "Big Bill" Knudsen, a Danish immigrant who had risen through the ranks of the auto industry to become president of General Motors, to drop his plans for market domination and join the U.
I want you to work on some production matters." With those words, President Franklin D. "Knudsen? I want to see you in Washington.
Kaiser--helped corral, cajole, and inspire Business leaders across the country to mobilize the "arsenal of democracy" that propelled the Allies to Victory in World War II.
In Freedom\'s Forge, bestselling author Arthur Herman takes us back to that time, revealing how two extraordinary American businessmen--automobile magnate William Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry J.
And the CEO would oblige, no questions asked, because it was his patriotic duty.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - SELECTED BY THE ECONOMIST AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR Remarkable as it may seem today, there once was a time when the president of the United States could pick up the phone and ask the president of General Motors to resign his position and take the reins of a great national enterprise
