Ramsey County History – Fall 2016: “‘Production for Victory:’ The Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant in World War II”

‘Production for Victory:’ The Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant in World War II
Author: Brian McMahon

Henry Ford was actively antiwar and anti-union in the 1930s. Thus, when war came to the United States in late 1941, the Ford Motor Company was barred from bidding on defense-related contracts. Eventually, Ford accepted unionization of his plants and agreed to participate in converting them from the production of automobiles and trucks to manufacturing war-related products. At the Twin Cities Assembly Plant located in St. Paul, workers produced parts for the Pratt & Whitney airplane engine and the M-8 armored car. Author Brian McMahon tells how this plant was converted to making the parts and armored cars and what it was like for the plant’s workers, many of whom were newly hired women. Based on interviews with former employees and other records, hiring women was not easy for either the company or the new female workers. Both, however, persevered and achieved production results that contributed to victory on the battlefield. Most of these women workers left Ford voluntarily after the fighting ended, but some stayed on despite efforts to force them to quit. Ford closed this plant in 2011.
PDF of McMahon article