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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

administrative entity within the Office for Emergency Management 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The board was created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt 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 t ...

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 (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 ...

) and associate director general ( Sidney Hillman) 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 ...

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 Leon Henderson, chairman of the Economic Defense Board

Henry A. Wallace Henry Agard Wallace (October 7, 1888 – November 18, 1965) was an American politician, journalist, farmer, and businessman who served as the 33rd vice president of the United States, the 11th U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the 10th U.S. ...

(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 p ...

) 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 Donald Marr Nelson (1888–1959) was an American business executive and public servant, serving as the executive vice president of Sears Roebuck before accepting the position of director of priorities of the United States Office of Production Man ...

. 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 ...

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 Su ...

(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