Museum of American Exceptionalism
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Arsenal of Democracy

America out-built and out-supplied the world. A bomber an hour, a miracle drug for D-Day, a submarine under the Pole.

1942–1958 · 7 exhibits
  1. Liberty ship slides down the ways at the Kaiser shipyard, Vancouver, Washington
    1942Open nowThe Four-Day Liberty ShipThe SS Robert E. Peary went from keel-laying to launch in four days and fifteen hours.4½days, keel to launch
  2. B-24E Liberator assembly lines at Ford's Willow Run plant, 1942
    1944Open nowWillow RunFord’s bomber plant outside Detroit, turning out a four-engine heavy bomber every hour at its peak.1B-24 per hour
  3. Wounded men of the 16th Infantry Regiment wait at the foot of the chalk cliffs on Omaha Beach for evacuation to a field hospital, 6 June 1944.
    1944Open nowPenicillin for D-DayBritain discovered penicillin but made it by the spoonful. Peoria scientists and 21 American companies had 2.3 million doses ready for D-Day.2.3Mdoses by D-Day
  4. Jack Aeby's color photograph of the Trinity fireball rising over the Jornada del Muerto, 16 July 1945.
    1945Open nowTrinity130,000 Americans built secret cities, the first reactor and the weapon that ended the Second World War.3years, start to finish
  5. Air Force C-47s in the unloading line at Tempelhof. In the first weeks of the airlift these small twin-engine transports carried everything from engine crates to milk bottles.
    1948Open nowThe Berlin AirliftStalin cut off West Berlin by land. American and British crews flew in its food and coal for almost eleven months until he gave up.2.3Mtons flown in
  6. A freighter comes alongside in the harbor at Marseille. Almost destroyed in the war, the port was rebuilt with Marshall Plan aid and was busier than ever.
    1948Open nowThe Marshall PlanAmerica rebuilt the nations it had just fought for, and the ones it had fought against.$13.3Bto rebuild Europe
  7. Nautilus underway at sea in November 1955, her first year on nuclear power.
    1958Open nowNautilus 90 NorthThe world’s first nuclear-powered ship sailed 1,830 miles beneath the Arctic ice and became the first ship ever to reach the North Pole.90°Nunder the ice