Office of Defense Mobilization

The Office of Defense Mobilization (ODM) was an independent agency of the United States government whose function was to plan, coordinate, direct and control all wartime mobilization activities of the federal government, including manpower, economic stabilization, and transport operations. It was established in 1950, and for three years was one of the most powerful agencies in the federal government. It merged with other agencies in 1958 to become the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization (1958–1961).

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's pre-war mobilization efforts had been resisted by Congress, and lacked coordination. One of the most important lessons the federal government drew from World War II was that the nation needed a permanent, rationalized mobilization apparatus. The nature of nuclear war, in which mobilization would occur in weeks rather than months, made the establishment of a mobilization structure even more imperative.

The National Security Act of 1947 established this new mobilization structure. It authorized the creation of the National Security Council (NSC) and the Central Intelligence Agency, merged the Departments of War (Army and Air Force) and Navy into the Department of Defense (DOD), and established the nation's first mobilization agency, the National Security Resources Board (NSRB). The Act restricted DOD to the employment of military power and placed mobilization responsibilities with the NSRB.

By 1950, however, the NSRB was dormant and DOD had recaptured authority over military procurement. When North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, President Harry S. Truman attempted to use the NSRB as the nation's mobilization agency. Truman quadrupled the defense budget to $50 billion, and the NSRB placed controls on prices, wages and raw materials. Inflation soared and shortages in food, consumer goods and housing appeared. By October 1950, inflation had abated and shortages were easing. The intervention of China in the Korean War unraveled the administration's mobilization effort. A panicked public began hoarding and the administration accelerated its rearmament plans. Inflation jumped from 1.3 percent to 7.9 percent. By December, public support for the war had fallen significantly, both Truman and his intelligence experts expected World War III to break out by spring, and Senator Joseph McCarthy was using the military setbacks in Korea to attack the administration and push his own political agenda.

Confronted with the failure of the NSRB, an economy on the verge of collapse, and a mobilization effort which was faltering and unable to meet the needs of accelerated production plans, President Truman declared a national emergency on December 16, 1950. Using the powers granted to him by the Defense Production Act (which had been enacted only in September 1950), Truman created the Office of Defense Mobilization.

The Office of Defense Mobilization was established by Executive Order 10193 on December 16, 1950. The agency was led by a presidentially-appointed director, who was subject to confirmation by the Senate and who was a member of the NSC.

ODM was part of the Executive Office of the President. ODM consisted of two main organizational components: The Defense Production Administration, which established production goals and supervised production operations; and the Economic Stabilization Agency, which coordinated and supervised wage and price controls. In all, 19 mobilization agencies were eventually created within ODM to control every aspect of the American economy.

Truman named Charles E. Wilson, president of General Electric and a government mobilization chief in World War II, to head the ODM. Wilson became one of the most powerful people in the federal government, and the press began calling him "co-president".