. . . a manufacturer who had developed a new type of hand grenade far more murderous than present models thought that I could design it so as to further increase fragmentation and, therefore, the number of casualties.

A lack of imaginative products and advanced manufacturing was a form of fear that had contributed to the general economic decline [of the Great Depression]. . . . one of the solutions was to create consumer demand. Eventually, a few industrial design pioneers were able to make some business leaders aware that this lack of vision and industrial timidity was foreign to the spirit of adventure that had made America a leading nation. And could again.