Building Modernity through War: World War II Mobilization and Uneven Economic Development in the American South

Leah Edwards, Georgia State University

World War II is widely seen as a turning point in the economic development of the American South. Wartime mobilization brought large federal investments in military installations, industrial production, and transportation infrastructure to the region. However, these investments were concentrated in particular areas, suggesting that the economic transformation associated with the war unfolded unevenly across the South. This paper examines how wartime mobilization reshaped patterns of economic development and modernization at the county level in Georgia and North Carolina. Using county-level census data from 1940, 1950, and 1960, this study compares demographic and economic changes in counties that hosted major wartime infrastructure with counties that did not. Wartime infrastructure is defined as including ports, shipyards, military bases, and airfields. Indicators of economic development and modernization include population growth, urbanization, and shifts in employment away from agriculture and toward industrial and nonfarm sectors. By comparing counties with different levels of wartime mobilization, the paper investigates whether the economic changes associated with World War II were concentrated in specific localities rather than distributed more evenly across the region. An analysis of the data suggests that wartime mobilization accelerated economic modernization in parts of the American South but did so unevenly. Counties tied to wartime infrastructure experienced faster economic change both during and after the war, highlighting how federal wartime investment helped shape localized pathways to modern economic development.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 149. Development and Labor