My understanding is that the process development was basically...

My understanding is that the process development was basically funded by the US war effort back then to  reduce the dependency on foreign imports of bauxite for national security reasons!

Almost all aluminum in the United
States is produced from imported bauxite
or alumina. This country has, however,
more than adequate domestic nonbauxitic
alumina resources that could alleviate
dependency on foreign sources (-11 .4 For
both economic and security reasons, the
Federal Government has had a longstanding
interest in the development of alternative
technology that would allow utilization
of those resources.