Background
Nelson was born in Hannibal, Missouri, the son of a locomotive engineer
Nelson was born in Hannibal, Missouri, the son of a locomotive engineer
In 1942 Nelson became chairman of the War Production Board (1942–1944) when it replaced the Office of Personnel Management. He later served for two years (1945–1947) as president of the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers. He went to the University of Missouri, graduating in 1911 with a degree in chemical engineering. In 1912 he took a job as a chemist with Sears, Roebuck and Company.
There he steadily advanced, becoming vice-president in 1930 and being named executive vice president and vice chairman of the executive committee by 1939.
In May 1940, Roosevelt appointed Nelson to a post at the Treasury Department where he served as acting director of the procurement division, managing sales of raw materials to Britain and its allies for use in their fight against the Axis. During the second half of 1940, Axis successes and the possibility of American involvement in the spreading war heightened concerns about the nation"s military readiness.
With an eye to improving the efficiency of war production, in January, 1941 several agencies responsible for purchasing billions of dollars of war materials for the defense industry were reorganized into a central procurement agency, the Office of Production Management, with Nelson the director of priorities. As American war preparations continued to expand during 1941, new inefficiencies in the supply process were exposed, and in July a new agency, the Supply Priorities and Allocation Board (SPAB) was created to deal with them.
Nelson was named its director
In January, 1942, following America"s entry into the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt abolished both the Office of Personnel Management and the SPAB, replacing them with a new agency, the War Production Board. Once again, Franklin Delano Roosevelt asked Nelson to lead lieutenant Nelson faced extensive criticism from the military during his tenure.
Described by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin as "habitually indecisive", Nelson had difficulty sorting the conflicting requests from various agencies.
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson regularly criticized Nelson for his "inability to take charge". In February 1943, Roosevelt invited Bernard Baruch to replace Nelson as War Production Board head, but was persuaded to change his mind by advisor Harry Hopkins, and Nelson remained in the post.
After the end of World World War II, Nelson returned to private industry. He died of a stroke in 1959.
His 1946 book Arsenal of Democracy is one of the major works on the United States. industrial mobilization effort during World World War World War II
