How America Saved the World: The Untold Story of U.S. Preparedness Between the World Wars - Hardcover

In 1932, less than fifteen years after proving itself a world power in the Great War, the United States could muster its entire active duty army in Chicago’s Soldier Field with room to spare. And yet, within months of the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had once again emerged as the mightiest--and best armed--fighting force in the world. However remarkable it seems, this unprecedented turnaround was not the miracle many have declared it to be. In this book acclaimed military historian Eric Hammel uncovers the facts behind this powerful re-awakening to finally give a full account of how America so suddenly and “miraculously” became World War II’s “Arsenal of Democracy.”

The story begins with decline of the American military after World War I. Hammel then turns his focus to a pivotal “aircraft meeting” of November 1938. Here we see how the decision to put the nation’s prodigious resources into rearming was in fact made well before Pearl Harbor. How America Saved the World documents the workings of the remarkable alliance of government, industry, and military community behind the United State’s orderly transformation into an invincible military power. The result is the first detailed picture of a vast human endeavor, conceived and overseen by the best minds in the nation--an accomplishment unparalleled in the conduct of war.

Contrary to popular myth, the ascension of the United States to the preeminent role in World War II was deliberate, orderly, and integrated. Begun in November 1938, it was conceived and overseen by the best minds the nation had in place. It was a human endeavor, so mistakes were made, things didn’t always go right, plans and visions had to be scrapped or transformed along the way. But there is nothing in the conduct of war that has ever run so well, so true, so straight to the heart of victory. Nothing.

Here, for the first time, is an orderly narrative that explains how the United States military bootstrapped itself for victory and, thus, How America Saved the World.