Editor's Note: (David Gergen has been a White House adviser to four presidents and is a senior political analyst at CNN. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a professor of public service at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he founded the Center for Public Leadership. James Piltch is Gergen's chief research assistant. His writing on civic life and education has appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the authors. View more opinion on CNN.)
(CNN) Since declaring war against the coronavirus, President Donald Trump and his team have struggled to exercise effective, consistent leadership against an invisible enemy. On some days, Trump seems to listen to his health experts and understand the gravity of the situation. On other days, he reverts to narcissism, erratic decisions and petty fights.
To steady the ship, the President should look to his predecessors and apply the lessons of leadership from American history. Surely, there is no better source of wisdom than former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who oversaw the US's mobilization during World War II.
In 1940, President Roosevelt was publicly committed to staying out of the war raging in Europe and Asia, even though he understood the growing danger of Adolf Hitler and knew America would likely be sucked into the fight. He also knew that the US was woefully unprepared. Its army was pitifully inadequate -- with only about 180,000 servicemen, it was smaller than Portugal's -- and the US simply didn't have the manufacturing capacity to arm itself, let alone other friendly nations, too.
Even so, FDR thought the US simply could not wait; it could hope for the best but needed to prepare for the worst. That is why he declared that America would become "an arsenal of democracy" and promised to help provide military supplies to the United Kingdom in the fight against Nazi Germany. FDR publicly set a goal to manufacture 50,000 planes a year -- even though the US military produced less than 6,000 in 1939. Experts scoffed, but FDR believed that the US could do damn near anything when it pulled together.
Roosevelt turned to the American private sector and found others to lead the charge with him. William Knudsen, the president of General Motors at the time, was well versed in mass production and turned his expertise toward manufacturing armaments. Soon, with FDR's blessing, Knudsen went to other companies and began to pull in those that wanted to work with the government. It didn't take long before more than 900 companies came on board in the war effort.
Next was Ferdinand Eberstadt, a former investment banker. Eberstadt came up with a uniquely American approach to managing the creation of the machines. The government would control the distribution of three key resources: steel, copper, and aluminum. This centralization prevented private competition from jacking up prices. It allowed the government to prioritize what was needed most at any given moment, while still allowing the private sector to oversee production.
Meanwhile, citizens everywhere were mobilized. Women were brought into the workforce in unprecedented numbers — giving rise to Rosie the Riveter— and any man who did not put on a uniform was put to work, too (though discrimination against African-Americans remained). Unemployment fell from over 17% in 1939 to 1.2% by 1944.
The results of this mobilization were staggering: Throughout the course of the war, the country produced 12,000 warships, 41 billion rounds of ammunition, 17 million firearms, 86,000 tanks, and two million army trucks. Most impressively, the country manufactured 300,000 planes, meaning it outdid Roosevelt's lofty goal. In fact, Ford Motor Company built a storied reputation at its Willow Run plant, where, according to PBS, a B-24 Liberator long-range bomber made up of more than 1.5 million parts rolled off the production line every hour by the end of the war.
This story is full of important lessons for our leadership in Washington today. First and foremost, it is a source for hope: Americans then and now can be mobilized to meet the country's greatest challenges. That confidence is crucial in this moment.
But the fight against the coronavirus cannot be won without central coordination and partnership. FDR knew the federal government needed to lead the effort, and he enlisted experts like Knudsen and Eberstadt to secure much-needed resources to efficiently ramp up the production of military equipment.
When it comes to making sure we have enough medical equipment to fight the pandemic, President Trump has in many cases, sat on his hands, leaving a trail of confusion and uncertainty. He directed governors to procure their own supplies, and a desperate scramble for ventilators and protective equipment has needlessly driven up costs as states compete against each other. Having someone like Eberstad who could help guarantee the setting of priorities and distribution of key resources likely would have helped.
Similarly, FDR recognized the importance of close, working partnerships with domestic leaders, both in government and the private sector. He had a bruising relationship with corporate titans earlier in his presidency but he put that aside to work closely with them in the war mobilization. President Trump might well remember that in his next phone calls with Govs. Andrew Cuomo, Gavin Newsom, Jay Inslee, and Gretchen Whitmer. He should also quickly assemble new, high-powered advisory boards to tackle the growing economic crisis.
Finally, FDR was a devoted partner in working with other, democratic leaders around the world. It can be argued that without the powerful bond between Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, WWII might have led to the collapse of several democracies.
Contrast that with the attitude the US has displayed toward our allies during the pandemic. We issued abrupt travel restrictions on visitors from Europe without any consultation with the European Union, causing frightful jams. Our government tried to get a German company to move its research wing to the US and develop a coronavirus vaccine exclusively for the US. The G-7 could not release a joint statement on the pandemic because our secretary of state was insistent it be called the "Wuhan virus."
Franklin Roosevelt was a master of leadership in crisis. It would be reassuring to the world if the United States were now to embrace him as a role model.