William S. Knudsen
American executiveWikipedia
15
MENTIONS
13
EPISODES
12
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Search complete. 15 mentions across 13 episodes found for "William S. Knudsen".
Oct 21, 2026
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
They're going to be war profiteers.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
He said, no, no, no. I'm going to get Henry Ford, Henry Kaiser, William Knudsen, War Production Board.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
I'm going to let them do things that you wouldn't believe where you are at Willow Run, a million square feet for B-24.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
All they have to do is make us preeminent.
Al MurrayHOST
So when FDR assembled this sort of brain trust-
James HollandHOST
Yeah, along with Bill Knudsen and all the others.
James HollandHOST
Yeah
Al MurrayHOST
Yeah.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
He brought in Henry Ford.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
He brought in William Knudsen, GM.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
He brought in DuPont.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
And he said to all of them, you're going to make money.
Byron CallanPANELIST
It's just food for thought.
Vago MuradianHOST
I would point out, as great as Arthur Herman's book is, Maury Klein's A Call to Arms is kind of a broader view of the mobilization that happened at the time, as opposed to being told from a sort of a Bill Knudsen perspective as the hero of a story.
Vago MuradianHOST
It was a far vaster effort that was ongoing, and there was a lot of prioritization involved.
Vago MuradianHOST
right, within the system.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
So you go buy them and give us your old ones because they still work." That's absurd to let-- Especially when Erion said he wanted to send missiles into Athens.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
So my point is that we are in a revolution right now, and we're trying to go back to the World War II model of William Knudsen, Henry Kaiser, Henry Ford.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
We're going to make great weapons, but they're not gonna be, have to be perfect, and we're gonna flood the zone like we did with 50,000 German ch- tank.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
We made 12,000, uh, P-47 Thunderbolts.
Victor Davis HansonHOST
And how did that happen? Well, we, we enlisted kind of like Donald Trump is doing with our own war production, uh, renaissance, where he's bringing in techies, uh, like Elon Musk or the Anduril people or the AI people, but who are often of the op- opposite political persuasion.
Victor Davis HansonHOST
But World War II, we brought in, uh, the GM CEO, William Knudsen.
Victor Davis HansonHOST
We brought in the aluminum king, uh, Henry Kaiser.
Victor Davis HansonHOST
We brought in Henry Ford, the car baron.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
the AI people, who were often of the opposite political persuasion.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
But in World War II, we brought in the GM CEO, William Knudsen.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
We brought in the aluminum king, Henry Kaiser.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
We brought in Henry Ford, the car baron.
John PapolaHOST
[laughs]
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
And he, he called in, just like Trump, he called in William Knudsen, head of GM, DuPont, Henry Kaiser, Henry Ford, and the whole bunch of them.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
They all hated him.
Victor Davis HansonGUEST
And he said, "I want you to do whatever it takes, and I will give you complete...
Arthur L. HermanSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Knudsen solved that.
Arthur L. HermanSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
In fact, it's Bill Knudsen who introduced Detroit's annual model changes.
Arthur L. HermanSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
All owed to him.
A.J. BaimeGUEST
When this idea of Fordism and also, you know, the Industrial Revolution, when all of that could be applied to warfare, The sky was the limit.
Arthur L. HermanSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
He's blamed you for our inability to get out of the Depression.
Arthur L. HermanSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And now you're going to Washington to go work for him.
Arthur L. HermanSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Why are you doing this? Bill Knudsen was born in Denmark, came to this country as a Danish immigrant, worked his way up from the shop floor.
Arthur L. HermanSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
And he said to them, he said, I owe this country everything.
Walter WinchellSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Over 675,000 people.
Walter WinchellSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
In Chicago, William Knudsen spoke before 125,000 Americans.
Walter WinchellSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
Last, Little River, South Carolina.
Walter WinchellSOUNDBITE_SPEAKER
An excursion boat by name the Nightingale.
3 more episodes mention William S. Knudsen.
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