What Du Pont did in World War I has been told chiefly by Congressional and journalistic witch hunters. Du Pont, in spite of its protests, was branded a "Merchant of Death."
This time E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., Inc. decided to tell its version of what it did in World War II. In a voluminous account last week, it underlined that munitions-making 1) is not its chief business, 2) had not been before the war.
In 1939, production of military explosives employed only 400 workers, accounted for less than 2% of Du Font's total sales. During the war, Du Pont built up its munitions capacity to a peak employment of 37,000, produced 4.5 billion pounds of explosives (20% more than the Allies used in World War I). But even in wartime, military explosives accounted for only 25% of Du Font's total production v. 85% in World War I. The rest comprised neoprene, nylon, etc.
In the war years, Du Pont expanded production by building 54 government plants costing $1,034,000,000, turned out $895,000,000 worth of products. For this Du Pont charged the government 3.3% of the combined construction and operating costs. After taxes Du Pont's net compensation was less than 0.4% of total construction and operating costs, roughly $2,000,000,000. As evidence that it was not profiting in death, Du Pont cited its common stock earnings. During the war they were 21% below the 1939-41 levels.
Du Pont's biggest war job was designing, building and operating the $350,000,000 Hanford atom bomb project. For this, its fee was exactly $1.