Rationing and Postwar Consumption

Rationing Overview

Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States had no intention or plan for rationing, yet within sixteen months after the historic event, the government installed thirteen major rationing programs. The programs, in order of their installation, are tires, automobiles, typewriters, sugar, bikes, gas, protective rubber footwear, fuel oil, coffee, shoes, stoves, processed foods and meats, fats, oils and cheese. All of the programs except for the last two were implemented during 1942. At first the government tried price controlling, but the price levels were at a point where demand exceeded supply, which created the need for rationing. Supplies were low because the government needed to supply the troops, our allies and newly liberated places.

During the United State’s involvement in the war, industrial factories stopped making consumer items and began to produce war materials. Ration coupons took over as currency. People could clearly see the effect that the war was having on their own soil. Yet, in 1943 two thirds of people surveyed said that their meals were not different since rationing started and three quarters said that they size of their meals had not changed. Then in 1944, ninety percent of women surveyed said they had enough meat and seventy five percent said they had enough sugar. More than a third claimed they could not use all there canned goods before they expired. Even the quality and quantity of the wartime diet increased, especially in low income households. The American rationing system was so effective because of the “native good sense of the American people and because, on the whole, the amateurs who organized and administered it rose to the situation and discharged their responsibilities with vigor, imagination, and courage.”

"Plant to Conserve- Can to Preserve"

The government launched big campaigns to urge American citizens to conserve on everything. Shown to the right are some of the images they used. The government encouraged people to make “victory gardens,” which were gardens an individual household could use to get vegetables. They also encouraged home canning, to help preserve food longer. There were community canning centers set up to help people. The government put so much emphasis on food production that they referred to it as America’s “first line of defense.” In 1943, twenty million households (three fifths of the population) produced more than forty percent of he vegetables that Americans consumed. The government marketed conservation as highly patriotic, as seen on the right. It was the way American citizens not in Europe can help fight the war and defeat the Axis. A pamphlet for the Office of Price Administration in 1943 stated:

“American meat is a fighting food. It’s an important part of a military man’s diet, giving him the energy to outfight the enemy. It helped the Americans drive the Japs from Guadalcanal. It’s feeding our troops on world battlefronts. It helped sustain the heroic British 8th Army in its blistering drive from Egypt to Tunisia. It aided the Red Army in breaking the German lines at Stalingrad and Leningrad. It’s helping soviet troopers roll the Axis forces back. Meat from our farms and packing houses is playing a part almost on par with tanks, planes, and bullets.”

Economy of the US during WWII