Knudsen

Knudsen

Author: Col. Norman Beasley

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2017-01-12

Total Pages: 642

ISBN-13: 1787208257

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Knudsen tells the tale of the immigrant bicycle mechanic who revolutionized American industry and buried the Axis powers with mass production. Norman Beasley presents the story of Signius Wilhelm Poul Knudsen, a young man who came to the U.S. with an unshakeable faith in American opportunity, an eye for efficiency, and twenty dollars in his pocket. Four decades later, that man would become Lieutenant-General William S. Knudsen, the mind behind America’s production at the most crucial point in modern history. Knudsen began his time in American industry in the shipyards and factories, eventually landing a job as foreman in a bicycle manufacturing plant. He quickly demonstrated his skill in organizing production. Henry Ford took notice and bought the company on the condition that Knudsen come work for him. Knudsen succeeded everywhere he went, leading first Ford and later Chevrolet to dominating the automobile markets. When WWII loomed on the horizon, President Roosevelt needed the best production man in the country to give the U.S. and its allies a fighting chance; he chose Knudsen. This inspiring story shows a man who believed in and achieved the American dream, rising from rags to riches and changing not only the world of his time, but the course of history. Without Knudsen, America, and indeed the world, might have faced a much darker future.


Freedom's Forge

Freedom's Forge

Author: Arthur Herman

Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks

Published: 2013-07-02

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0812982045

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • SELECTED BY THE ECONOMIST AS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR “A rambunctious book that is itself alive with the animal spirits of the marketplace.”—The Wall Street Journal Freedom’s Forge reveals how two extraordinary American businessmen—General Motors automobile magnate William “Big Bill” Knudsen and shipbuilder Henry J. Kaiser—helped corral, cajole, and inspire business leaders across the country to mobilize the “arsenal of democracy” that propelled the Allies to victory in World War II. Drafting top talent from companies like Chrysler, Republic Steel, Boeing, Lockheed, GE, and Frigidaire, Knudsen and Kaiser turned auto plants into aircraft factories and civilian assembly lines into fountains of munitions. In four short years they transformed America’s army from a hollow shell into a truly global force, laying the foundations for the country’s rise as an economic as well as military superpower. Freedom’s Forge vividly re-creates American industry’s finest hour, when the nation’s business elites put aside their pursuit of profits and set about saving the world. Praise for Freedom’s Forge “A rarely told industrial saga, rich with particulars of the growing pains and eventual triumphs of American industry . . . Arthur Herman has set out to right an injustice: the loss, down history’s memory hole, of the epic achievements of American business in helping the United States and its allies win World War II.”—The New York Times Book Review “Magnificent . . . It’s not often that a historian comes up with a fresh approach to an absolutely critical element of the Allied victory in World War II, but Pulitzer finalist Herman . . . has done just that.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “A compulsively readable tribute to ‘the miracle of mass production.’ ”—Publishers Weekly “The production statistics cited by Mr. Herman . . . astound.”—The Economist “[A] fantastic book.”—Forbes “Freedom’s Forge is the story of how the ingenuity and energy of the American private sector was turned loose to equip the finest military force on the face of the earth. In an era of gathering threats and shrinking defense budgets, it is a timely lesson told by one of the great historians of our time.”—Donald Rumsfeld


LIFE

LIFE

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1940-06-17

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13:

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LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.


LIFE

LIFE

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1941-03-31

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13:

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LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.


Henry's Lieutenants

Henry's Lieutenants

Author: Ford Richardson Bryan

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9780814332139

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Although Henry Ford gloried in the limelight of highly publicized achievement, he privately admitted, "I don't do so much, I just go around lighting fires under other people." Henry's Lieutenants features biographies of thirty-five "other people" who served Henry Ford in a variety of capacities, and nearly all of whom contributed to his fame. These biographical sketches and career highlights reflect the people of high caliber employed by Henry Ford to accomplish his goals: Harry Bennett, Albert Kahn, Ernest Kanzler, William S. Knudsen, and Charles E. Sorenson, among others. Most were employed by the Ford Motor Company, although a few of them were Ford's personal employees satisfying concurrent needs of a more private nature, including his farming, educational, and sociological ventures. Ford Bryan obtained a considerable amount of the material in this book from the oral reminiscences of the subjects themselves.


LIFE

LIFE

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 1940-06-17

Total Pages: 104

ISBN-13:

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LIFE Magazine is the treasured photographic magazine that chronicled the 20th Century. It now lives on at LIFE.com, the largest, most amazing collection of professional photography on the internet. Users can browse, search and view photos of today’s people and events. They have free access to share, print and post images for personal use.


Congressional Record

Congressional Record

Author: United States. Congress

Publisher:

Published: 1969

Total Pages: 1322

ISBN-13:

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The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published daily when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record began publication in 1873. Debates for sessions prior to 1873 are recorded in The Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (1789-1824), the Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837), and the Congressional Globe (1833-1873)