The Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) was founded in 1932 by
Herbert Hoover to help with the
Great Depression, with the outbreak of World War II, it became a war department. Fund requests usually started with the
United States Navy,
United States Army,
War Shipping Administration,
Office of Production Management, the
War Production Board,
Maritime Commission or other war departments. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation had eight subsidiaries. Most requests for new factories and new mills were given to the Defense Plant Corporation. The head of the Defense Plant Corporation was
Jesse H. Jones, with
Emil Schram and Sam Husbands. It would also offer oversight that factories were constructed, equipped, and operated. By the time it closed in 1945 it had funded over $9 billion into the wartime factories. The funds went to over 2,300 projects in 46 US states and in foreign countries. In most projects, the government owned factories and leased them to private companies. Major factories built were
aircraft manufacturing (50% of funds),
tanks plants,
nonferrous metals,
machine tools,
synthetic rubber,
shipyards and boat yards. The largest project was $176 million for
Dodge's Chicago aircraft engine plant. The
Dodge Chicago Plant manufactured engines for the
Boeing B-29 Superfortress and
Consolidated B-32 Dominator. The Dodge Chicago 1,545 acres with a steel
forge and aluminum
foundry. With the end of the war, the DPC ceased operations on July 1, 1945. ==Funded==