Assessment
ODM radically changed the way the federal government approached defense procurement and mobilization. Much of the subsequent Cold War defense procurement apparatus was created by ODM, and still exists to this day.
ODM also made long-lasting economic changes to America's industrial base, changes which led to unintended political consequences. ODM shifted most of the nation's defense plants away from the West Coast, Northeast and Midwest to the Deep South and Southeast. This contributed to a 50-year industrial decline in these three regions from which they have not yet recovered. Meanwhile, large numbers of workers moved South to seek employment with defense firms. This contributed to realignment in the nation's political power structure. ODM initiated the dispersal of defense plants to protect the nation against enemy attack. But these economic changes had unintended consequences which helped lead to the ascendancy of the Republican Party and rise of the "solid South."
Read more about this topic: Office Of Defense Mobilization
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