The Supply Priorities and Allocations Board (SPAB) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

administrative entity within the

Office for Emergency Management The Office for Emergency Management (OEM) was an office within the Executive Office of the United States President. It was established by administrative order, May 25, 1940, in accordance with executive order EO 8248, September 8, 1939. The of ...

which was created and dissolved during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The board was created by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

via

Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of th ...

8875 on August 28, 1941, and dissolved less than five months later. The purpose of the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board was to coordinate the distribution of materials and commodities related to national defense and to assist the

Office of Production Management The Office of Production Management was a United States Government agency that existed from January 1941 to centralize direction of the federal procurement programs and quasi-war production during the period immediately proceeding the United State ...

(OPM) in carrying out their overlapping duties. The board's membership consisted of the director general (

William S. Knudsen William Signius Knudsen (March 25, 1879 – April 27, 1948) was a leading Danish-American automotive industry executive and an American general during World War II. His experience and success as a key senior manager in the operations sides of F ...

) and associate director general (

Sidney Hillman Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He was the head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor' ...

) of the OPM,

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...

Secretary of the Navy The secretary of the Navy (or SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the Department of the Navy, a military department (component organization) within the United States Department of Defense. By law, the se ...

Frank Knox William Franklin Knox (January 1, 1874 – April 28, 1944) was an American politician, newspaper editor and publisher. He was also the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936, and Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt during ...

, administrator of the

Office of Price Administration The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money (price contr ...

Leon Henderson Leon Henderson (May 26, 1895 – October 19, 1986) was the administrator of the Office of Price Administration from 1941 to 1942. He also served as a member of several United States federal government agencies during World War II. Life and career ...

, chairman of the Economic Defense Board Henry A. Wallace (who was also the

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

) and the special assistant to the president supervising the

Lend-Lease Lend-Lease, formally the Lend-Lease Act and introduced as An Act to Promote the Defense of the United States (), was a policy under which the United States supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and other Allied nations with food, oil, ...

program,

Edward Stettinius, Jr. Edward Reilly Stettinius Jr. (October 22, 1900 – October 31, 1949) was an American businessman who served as United States Secretary of State under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman from 1944 to 1945, and as U.S. Ambassador ...

The president retained the power to appoint an executive director and to select the chairman of the board from its members. The only chairman of SPAB during its short lifespan was Vice President Wallace and its sole executive director was businessman Donald M. Nelson. The board's duties were essentially to determine how to best allocate the resources of the United States among the American public, allied militaries and the

United States military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

which, at the time of SPAB's creation, had not yet entered the war. Critics complained that the board's membership created several conflicts in the

chain of command A command hierarchy is a group of people who carry out orders based on others' authority within the group. It can be viewed as part of a power structure, in which it is usually seen as the most vulnerable and also the most powerful part. Milit ...

. For example, Henderson was Knudsen's inferior as director of a subdivision of the OPM but was his equal as a fellow board member of SPAB. Regardless, SPAB was successful in increasing military aid to the Soviet Union, consistent with President Roosevelt's stated policy on Russia, despite strong opposition from the Office of Production Management and others. Less than four months after SPAB was created, the United States formally entered World War II when it declared war upon Japan on December 8, 1941. SPAB seemed poised to dramatically increase in importance. However, this increased significance was short-lived; on January 16, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9024, establishing the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Sup ...

(WPB). The War Production Board superseded the Supply Priorities and Allocations Board and the Office of Production Management and absorbed both boards' duties. Donald M. Nelson, the former executive director of SPAB, became the first chairman of the WPB.

References

{{reflist Agencies of the United States government during World War II Government agencies established in 1941 1941 establishments in the United States 1942 disestablishments in the United States Government agencies disestablished in 1942