Oklahoma was still mired in economic depression on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, igniting World War II. Six years of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal had provided assistance to Oklahomans but had not produced prosperity. The next six years of worldwide conflict freed the Sooner State from the grip of the Great Depression and produced change on a scale seldom equaled in American history.
Oklahoma's fiscally conservative governor, Leon C. "Red" Phillips (1939–43), who had opposed many New Deal measures, could expect few favors from President Roosevelt. Nevertheless, Oklahoma community leaders and chambers of commerce successfully lobbied federal officials for a share of defense spending. Even before the United States entered the war, federal dollars poured into the state for training pilots, establishing military installations, and constructing wartime production facilities. The Selective Service Act of 1940 reduced unemployment and eventually placed so many men in uniform that women entered the work force in unprecedented numbers.
