Which statement best describes the relationship between big business and the war effort?

• A. War Production Board was led by industrialists, and most wartime contracts went to large firms.
• B. The War Production Board was abolished early in the war.
• C. The private sector was entirely excluded from wartime planning.
• D. Small firms received the majority of wartime contracts.

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is how the U.S. organized its economy for total war by leaning on big business to run and scale up production. The War Production Board was created to coordinate what factories produced, how quickly, and who got priority when resources were tight. It was run by industrialists, showing that government relied on the leadership and know-how of large firms to mobilize the economy. Because these big companies had the plants, capital, and labor force to ramp up output fast, most wartime contracts went to large firms that could meet the huge demand for airplanes, ships, tanks, and other war materiel. The system did involve private industry deeply, but the scale of contracts and the ability to convert peacetime factories to war production made large firms the primary engines of this effort. Smaller firms played important roles as subcontractors and suppliers, but they did not dominate the major contracts.

The other statements don’t fit because the WPB wasn’t abolished early in the war, the private sector wasn’t excluded from planning, and small firms did not receive the majority of wartime contracts.