T. V. A.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was created in 1933 through an Act of Congress, and its legacy continues today, ninety-one years later. TVA became a key defense partner for the War Department and the Chemical Warfare Services during World War II. TVA dams generated an enormous amount of hydroelectric power to manufacture aluminum for aircraft and provided the electricity used to develop components for the atomic bomb at the uranium enrichment facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Additionally, TVA manufactured nitrate for general purpose bombs and phosphorus for incendiary bombs and artillery munitions, as well as a chemical used in producing sarin nerve agent and synthetic rubber. TVA transformed the Tennessee River into a navigable waterway and improved water transportation of war supplies and equipment. TVA helped to feed the military through crop enhancing fertilizers and assisted in the development of a food dehydration process. TVA was so instrumental in helping the United States win WWII, the War Department proclaimed it their "secret weapon." This book is a consolidated snapshot of those TVA activities and many others, providing more detail, and trivia, about TVA's war work than is commonly known.