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The One That Everyone Got Involved In

Rosie the Riveter Sign This sign featuring "Rosie the Riveter" is a reproduction of J. Howard Miller's "We Can Do It" poster, displayed at the National Museum of American History. Posters like this were created to inspire workers on the home front, particularly emerging female laborers who replaced the men sent off to war.

There's A War On!

When the United States entered World War II, it would unite the American people, no matter how they felt before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. It would also be a war that everyone got involved in. Of course, many able-bodied men and women enlisted in the Armed Forces. That involvement didn't stop there. For those who were unable to serve in the military, the people of the "Home Front" were asked to ration, sacrifice, and perform domestic duties for those people who worked in defense plants. Radio Ads

At the time of Pearl Harbor, the state of the nation's civilian defense was barely adequate. The national chairman of the Office of Civilian Defense was New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia. By the end of January 1942, there were 5,601,892 Americans enrolled in civil defense programs including 334,666 auxiliary police, 670,673 air raid wardens and 265,580 medical personnel. 8,478 defense councils had been organized.

Civilian yacht owners formed coastal patrol organizations, and others volunteered to help the Coast Guard patrol the thousands of miles of unprotected beaches. The Civil Air Patrol, a civilian arm of the Army Air Force, came into being in December 1941. The Civil Air Patrol provided valuable war-related service, from hunting for German submarines off the coast to locating downed military pilots. It also supervised an extensive cadet program that provided military and aviation training to teenagers.

Concerns about national security intensify during wartime. With German and Japanese submarines patrolling off U.S. coasts, great emphasis was placed on educating servicemen and civilians about the need for secrecy concerning military matters, especially troop movements. Central to maintaining national security was the Office of War Information's drive to limit talk about the war in both the public and private arenas of American life. Silence meant security.

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Its War Funds were drives for the American people to donate money. The money the Red Cross received went for training nurses who went to war to help the doctors save lives. The money also went for training the people of the home front to learn first aid, home nursing courses, canteens, motor corps, and nurse's aide.

This training was vital, because of the possible dangers of an enemy invasion. The Red Cross also asked the people for a different, but extremely vital donation during each War Fund ... blood. Collecting pints of blood for plasma meant the difference between life and death to a wounded American soldier.

A large part of the war propaganda effort demanded sacrifice in terms of daily activities-saving waste fats for use in explosives, saving tin cans, eating leftovers, recycling paper, growing vegetables and canning them for home use, saving gasoline by driving cars slower and less often.

Appeals directly to women became a major element in poster propaganda, from asking women to enlist in the armed forces to encouraging housewives to conserve home resources. The government fought price fixing and black market prices with rationing. All Americans needed to share in the burdens of shortages equally. Not to share in sacrifices for victory was an unpatriotic act, and often was reported.

• Soap: there were vital materials in soap that were needed for the war effort ... and of course, soap was needed for the men and women of the military. To make a long story short, all soap products for the Home Front were cut back. The trick was how to conserve the soap that was available.
  • For bar soap, it should not soak in the water for an extended time, because the soap bar would melt away faster than it really should. When the user was finished with the soap, the bar should not rest on a wet soap dish. Doing this would make the soap soft, mushy, and unpleasant to the touch. When the soap bar wore down to a small sliver, there were 2 possible, but effective alternatives in using it.
    1. Moisten the sliver and put it on a new soap bar, and
    2. Collect several soap slivers, place them in a washcloth, and create a soap mitt. The soap mitt was excellent for washing, while it completely used all the soap slivers for this purpose.
  • For laundry/dish soap in granulated or flake form, there were 3 easy tasks the people could do to conserve what they have.
    1. Measure the amount of soap used;
    2. Cut back on washing the laundry until a full load was accumulated, and
    3. Scrape dishes well before washing.
• Food was a weapon.
  Paralleling the federal government's program of increased production of food was their program to curtail waste. Families were encouraged to:
  1. Plant a victory garden. At its peak, it is estimated that nearly 20,000,000 gardens were grown and about 40 percent of all vegetables produced in the U.S. came from Victory Gardens. By the end of the war the Department of Agriculture estimated total home front production of over one million tons of vegetables valued at 85 million dollars.
  2. Can all you can. Home canning and preserving of farm produce flourished so that more supplies would be made available for our troops. The idea was simple in conception and inexpensive for the individual American at home to carry out.
  3. Eat their leftovers and "lick their plate clean."
• To conserve fuel and rubber:
  1. The maximum speed limit during the war years was reduced to only 35 m.p.h.
  2. Americans were asked to take their cars to their local service stations, to have them properly tuned up and their tires inflated at the proper air pressure;
  3. not to make unnecessary trips ... and better yet,
  4. form a car pool with friends and neighbors.

Memories of World War I inflation, as well as the need to avoid shortages caused by hoarding and panic buying, prompted the US government to adopt rationing. This was seen as the best way to ensure adequate supplies for civilians. Rationing was first used for sugar in May 1942. Coffee rationing began on November 29, 1942, with an allowance of one pound for a five-week period; shoes were put on the list of rationed articles in February 1943.

During the last three years of WWII, Americans needed ration stamps to purchase products such as meat, cheese, canned goods, sugar, butter, shoes and gasoline. A typical allocation of sugar was 12 ounces per week. Auto validation stamps permitted three gallons of gas a week. One pair of shoes a year was the norm between February 1943 and October 1945. The Office of Price Administration fixed prices and rationed scarce commodities.

• Food Rationing
  • In order to purchase food, a point system was created. Once again, conserving played a major role. While some foods were easy to purchase, others like meat and sugar were more difficult.
  • The makers of Crisco, Spry, and other shortening or lard products were coming up with recipes that made a satisfying meal, yet saved ration points.
  • Another way to save points was to serve soup, pasta, or even breakfast cereal for dinner.
• Gas/Tire Rationing
  • Each coupon in the ration book entitled its owner to buy a specific number of gallons of gasoline. Once all the coupons were used, no more gasoline could be purchased until the beginning of the next designated period.
  • The gasoline allotted for use was supposed to be used strictly for "essential" purposes. The number of gallons allowed was based on the actual mileage traveled between home and place of employment during a specific ration period.
  • Tires were rationed too, and any tire in any condition became a valuable possession. Flat tires were once again the expected rather than the unusual occurrence.
  • Many car owners found the rewards of having an automobile were just not worth dealing with all the difficulties. Some placed their cars in storage and kept them there until the end of the war. Many sold their autos, for prices on used cars skyrocketed during the war years. No new model automobiles came out from 1942 until 1946, so every car of any make or model had a greatly inflated value. At first, people sold their cars to the highest bidders and there were tales of fantastic prices paid. Before long, the OPA placed a ceiling price on every model and type of used car and this was the maximum price allowed under the law.
• Black Market: For those people who wanted more than his/her share, this was the alternative to rationing ... unfortunately, it was also a shade on the illegal side.

The mobilization of American industry during World War II was an achievement without precedent in magnitude, complexity and duration. This achievement is in part attributed to the federal government's intensive program to marshal the contributions of people of all ages and from all walks of life. Many Americans were willing to give up all luxuries and devote all spare time to the war effort to achieve victory.

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