Supply Priorities and Allocations Board
Donald M. Nelson, Executive Director | |
| Parent agency | Office for Emergency Management |
|---|---|
The Supply Priorities and Allocations Board (SPAB) was a
Donald M. Nelson.[4]
The board's duties were essentially to determine how to best allocate the resources of the United States among the American public, allied militaries and the
United States military which, at the time of SPAB's creation, had not yet entered the war.[5] Critics complained that the board's membership created several conflicts in the chain of command. For example, Henderson was Knudsen's inferior as director of a subdivision of the OPM but was his equal as a fellow board member of SPAB.[3]: 78–79 Regardless, SPAB was successful in increasing military aid to the Soviet Union, consistent with President Roosevelt's stated policy on Russia, despite strong opposition from the Office of Production Management and others.[3]
: 79, 82
Less than four months after SPAB was created, the United States formally entered World War II when it
declared war upon Japan on December 8, 1941. SPAB seemed poised to dramatically increase in importance.[6] However, this increased significance was short-lived; on January 16, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9024, establishing the War Production Board (WPB). The War Production Board superseded the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board and the Office of Production Management and absorbed both boards' duties.[7] Donald M. Nelson, the former executive director of SPAB, became the first chairman of the WPB.[8]
References
- ^ President of the United States of America. Retrieved on May 25, 2023.
- ^ "United States. War Production Board. Records, 1941-1945: Finding Aid". Harvard Law School Library. January 2000. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
- ^ a b c d The United States at war; development and administration of the war program by the federal government (Report). Bureau of the Budget. 1946. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
- ^ "Henry A. Wallace, Chairman, Supply Priorities and Allocations Board and Vice-President of the United States, and Donald M. Nelson, Executive Director, Supply Priorities and Allocations Board and Director of the Priorities Division, Office of Production Management (OPM). Photograph taken at a joint press conference held directly after the first meeting of the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board on September 2, 1941". Library of Congress. Retrieved 29 May 2015.
- ^ The United States at war; development and administration of the war program by the federal government (Report). Bureau of the Budget. 1946. p. 76. Retrieved May 29, 2015.
To what extent, for example, should we devote our materials and manufacturing capacity to meet the needs of railroads; and how should their needs be weighed against that for automobiles? How should domestic civilian and military requirements be treated in relation to those of friendly nations in this hemisphere and elsewhere?
- ISBN 978-1-4000-6964-4.
- President of the United States of America. Retrieved on May 29, 2015.
- History Channel. 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2015.