arsenal of democracy

== English == === Alternative forms === Arsenal of Democracy === Etymology === Introduced to wide usage (although probably not first used) by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in December, 1940. === Noun === arsenal of democracy (politics, figurative) The United States of America, as supplier of extensive materiel support to U.S. allies during World War II; or post-war U.S. as the manufacturer and possessor of the greatest quantity of advanced military weaponry in the world, in the service of defending governments favouring the United States, mostly democracies. 1985 July 6, Drew Middleton, "Books of the Times: Analysis of a Failure" (book review of The 25-Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam by Gen. Bruce Palmer Jr.), New York Times (retrieved 11 July 2014): The United States, he contends, is no longer the arsenal of democracy. Nor does it have a clear technological advantage over the Soviet Union. ==== Usage notes ==== Sometimes used to refer to specific American urban industrial centers which contributed much output of this kind, such as Detroit, Chicago, and New York.