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b'Nobody would have thought that the United States could fight in a world war in 1938, let alone be a major reason for victory. That year, it was so politically isolationist and pacifist that its defense forces were smaller than Portugal\\u2019s, and Charles Lindbergh was so forceful in his public praise of Nazi air power that G\\xf6ring decorated him with the German. But while this was going on, Franklin Roosevelt ordered the federal government to spark a dramatic expansion in domestic airplane production, and this minor effort \\u2014 three years before Pearl Harbor \\u2014 would in time become the arsenal of democracy, the full-throttle unleashing of American enterprise that was the secret weapon for victory in World War II. Combined with Roosevelt\\u2019s public fight with Lindbergh -- known as the Great Debate \\u2014 victory at land and sea and air across the globe began at home in America.

Today\\u2019s guest is Craig Nelson, author of \\u201cV is for Victory: Franklin Roosevelt\\u2019s American Revolution and the Triumph of World War II.\\u201d Revealing an era when Detroit was Silicon Valley, Ford was Apple, and Sears Roebuck was Amazon, we see how during the war years, America built 2.5 million trucks, 500k jeeps, 286k aircraft, 86k tanks, and 2.6 million machine guns. More importantly, Roosevelt said that it wasn\\u2019t these weapons that were the real arsenal of democracy, but the American people themselves.'