National Defense Act of 1916

National Defense Act of 1916

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The National Defense Act of 1916, although traditionally understood as simple bill that expanded federal powers and funding over the Army, National Guard, and ROTC, also enabled the federal government to require manufacturers to produce war materiel for the government at a fair price. This essentially allowed the government to mobilize the nation’s industrial sector at will, a power that government did not hesitate to utilize. In Detroit, automobile manufacturers were required to produce Army trucks and ambulances.

(Roy Dikeman Chapin Correspondence, April 1917, Box 3, Roy Dikeman Chapin Papers 1886-1945, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Libraries.)

1916-06-03