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(as featured in our Arsenal of Democracy exhibit).

Throughout World War II, Detroit’s automobile manufacturers accounted for one-fifth of the dollar value of the nation’s total war production, which directly contributed to the allied victory.  In Arsenal of Democracy, award-winning historian Charles K. Hyde details the industry’s transition to a wartime production powerhouse and some of its notable achievements along the way.  The book examines several innovative cooperative relationships that developed between the executive branch of the federal government, U.S. military services, automobile industry leaders and supplies, and the United Automobile Workers (UAW) union, which set up the industry to achieve production miracles.  Hyde then looks at the struggles and achievements of individual automakers to produce war materiel as well as the important role played by previously underused workers – namely African Americans and women – in the war effort and their experiences on the line. 

Charles K. Hyde earned his Bachelor's degree in History from the University of Massachusetts in 1966 and his Ph.D. in Economic History from the University of Wisconsin in 1971. He taught briefly at Boston University and came to Wayne State University in 1974. Dr. Hyde retired from the History Department at Wayne State University in May 2010.  He has published eight books, many through Wayne State University Press, including Storied Independent Automakers: Nash, Hudson, and American Motors (2009); The Dodge Brothers: The Men, the Motor Cars, and the Legacy (2005) and Riding the Roller Coaster: A History of the Chrysler Corporation (2003).  Dr. Hyde's newest books are entitled, Arsenal of Democracy: The American Automobile Industry in World War II (October 2013) and Images From the Arsenal of Democracy (February 2014), also by Wayne State University Press.