Question

Which argument would have been used to justify increased government control over the economy during World War II?

Answer 1

One argument was to improve control over war production needs in as efficient and expedient way as possible; to mobilize the entire economy onto a war footing in order to prepare and defend the nation against its enemies as a whole.

A number of federal agencies were set up to administer the needs of and to ensure that private contractors were producing what they needed in WW2. Offices were set up to grease the bureaucracy needed to balance the needs of the armed forces, manufacturing companies, general labor, banking institutions, and special projects such as the Manhattan Project.

In this way, the federal government led the nation as the main organizer for everything needed to go to war and win it. Even before WW2, FDR's efforts via the New Deal and the Lend-Lease Act had already helped to prepare some of what he felt the nation would be required to deal with, jump starting certain economic sectors in readying them for when the call would go out to engage themselves in a war economy. It was an incredible level of cooperation between the federal government and the private sector enabling the US to rally its economy into high gear.