Munitions Quotes

Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, tried his hand as a gun manufacturer early in the history of the new nation. He persuaded President Thomas Jefferson that he could manufacture muskets with interchangeable parts in an era where each gun was made uniquely and there were no “spare parts.” So Whitney was the first of the American Defense Contractors. He was also the first to fail to deliver on his contract. His guns were years late and when they were finally delivered, they were very expensive and worse, not very good. The reason that this quotation is cited is that while Irvine was trying to recover the taxpayer’s money, Whitney visited the Secretaries of State and War as well as President Madison and members of Congress. The result was to give Whitney another chance and another big order for 15,000 guns. Even Whitney later admitted that these were not very good. Some argue that this quotation shows that nothing has changed much in military procurement and defense spending.

This quotation is important for two reasons: First, it illustrates Churchill’s brusque, businesslike manner and his singular focus when he had an objective to accomplish. The British navy used enormous quantities of gunpowder that did not give off smoke—cordite. However, in the 1st World War, the British supply of ingredients for gunpowder in South America were threatened by the German U-boats. With acetone, cordite could be made without the South American nitrates. Weizmann, a Jewish immigrant, had studied the properties of acetone, so Churchill summoned him to the admiralty and without any small talk simply asked him. The Second reason is historical. Weizmann then invented ways to make acetone on a large scale and gave the patent to the British Government at no charge. That cemented a friendship between Weizmann and Churchill as well as Churchill’s successor Arthur Balfour. Weizmann was also the head of the World Zionist Movement to enable the Jews to return to Palestine and create a Jewish State. He was able to persuade Churchill and Balfour, and 11 years after this meeting, the British Government—legally in control of Palestine under the League of Nations mandate--issued the “Balfour Declaration” establishing the right of the Jews to emigrate to Palestine and establish a new nation. When Israel was created in 1949, Weizmann was its first President.

After Henry VIII changed England to a Protestant nation and left the Roman Catholic Church, the Catholic countries of Europe, England’s traditional trading partners, were not as available as before. The English Economy was in great danger. Queen Elisabeth I however initiated policies to turn East for new markets and trading partners and found munitions a great export area. Since the Catholic Church was boycotting England, she seized their property and used much of it to capitalize and provide raw martial for her new industry.

In the American Civil War, civilian weapons production first became a factor in the outcome of a war. In WWI, it became a significant factor. And in WWII it was THE MAJOR factor when America became the “Arsenal of Democracy”. At one point, a single Ford factory was producing an entire B24 (our heaviest) bomber every single hour on a 24/7 schedule—over 600 every month.