The War Assets Administration (WAA) was created to dispose of

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 ...

government-owned surplus material and property from

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 WAA was established in the

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

, effective March 25, 1946, by Executive Order 9689, January 31, 1946. It was headed by

Robert McGowan Littlejohn Robert McGowan Littlejohn (23 October 1890 – 6 May 1982) was a major general in the United States Army who graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1912. He served with the Pancho Villa Expedition and ...

Predecessor agencies

* Petroleum Reserves Corporation (PRC),

Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a government corporation administered by the United States Federal Government between 1932 and 1957 that provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgag ...

(RFC, June–July 1943) * PRC,

Office of Economic Warfare The Office of Administrator of Export Control (also referred to as the Export Control Administration) was established in the United States by Presidential Proclamation 2413, July 2, 1940, to administer export licensing provisions of the act of July ...

(OEW, July–September 1943) * PRC,

Foreign Economic Administration In the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Foreign Economic Administration (FEA) was formed to relieve friction between US agencies operating abroad on September 25, 1943. As described by the biographer of the FEA's chief, Leo Crowley ...

(FEA, September 1943-September 1945) * PRC, RFC (September–November 1945) * War Assets Corporation (WAC), RFC (November 1945-March 1946) * Surplus War Property Administration (SWPA),

Office of War Mobilization The Office of War Mobilization (OWM) was an independent agency of the United States government formed during World War II to coordinate all government agencies involved in the war effort. It was formed on May 27, 1943 by Executive Order 9347. ...

(OWM, February–October 1944) * Surplus Property Board (SPB), Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion (OWMR, October 1944-September 1945) * Surplus Property Administration (SPA), OWMR (September 1945-March 1946)

Functions

The WAA disposed of surplus consumer, capital, and producer goods; industrial and maritime real property; and airports and aircraft located in the

and its territories. American factories had produced massive amounts of weaponry during World War II. Hundreds of thousands of tons of surplus military equipment, from mess kits to tanks, airplanes, machine guns, artillery, and even warships, were offered for sale as scrap by the WAA. Other items were sold for immediate use by consumers in their homes, vehicles, and businesses. In addition, government-owned industrial plants, airfields, and other real property was sold or turned over. Even patents, industrial processes, manufacturing techniques, and inventions were declared surplus and put up for sale. Below are a few examples of surplus assets distributed by the WAA: *

Agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...

* Aircraft, built for

military transport Military supply-chain management is a cross-functional approach to procuring, producing and delivering products and services for military materiel applications. Military supply chain management includes sub-suppliers, suppliers, internal info ...

, purchased by

airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...

carriers for commercial use *

Artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

, then converted by the new owners to produce electrical cords *

Books A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ar ...

Coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

Fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

Factories A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

built for war-time production, purchased by their lessees to continue production for civilian trade * Gliders * Gulfport Army Airfield was converted to commercial use, and is now the

Gulfport–Biloxi International Airport Gulfport–Biloxi International Airport is a joint civil–military public-use airport three nautical miles (6 km) northeast of the central business district of Gulfport, a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It is ...

Hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

on a closed Army base became

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

's first dedicated

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

sanitorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...

Mule The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...

s and

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s *

Power station A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid. Many p ...

, to be operated as a public utility *

Snow chains Snow chains, or tire chains, are devices fitted to the tires of vehicles to provide increased traction when driving through snow and ice. Snow chains attach to the drive wheels of a vehicle or special systems deploy chains which swing under ...

for trucks and passenger cars *

Trucks A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

Waste containers A waste container, also known as a dustbin, garbage can, and trash can is a type of container that is usually made out of metal or plastic. The words "rubbish", "basket" and "bin" are more common in British English usage; "trash" and "can" a ...

Successor

The WAA was abolished by the

Federal Property and Administrative Services Act Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

(63 Stat. 738), June 30, 1949. It was succeeded by the

General Services Administration The General Services Administration (GSA) is an independent agency of the United States government established in 1949 to help manage and support the basic functioning of federal agencies. GSA supplies products and communications for U.S. gover ...

, as liquidator.

References

Records of the War Assets Administration
(WAA) in the holdings of the US National Archives and Records Administration Military logistics of the United States Establishments by United States executive order {{US-mil-stub