Rationing Cards - A Pictorial Journey Down Nostalgia Lane
Jul 13th, 2008 by Jennifer Lynn
How resourceful Americans kept it rational during World War II
Enormous sacrifices were required during the onset of World War II, as the American government conserved resources through the enactment of the Food Rationing Program of 1942, a regulation which affected Americans for over three years and limited the amount of commodities a consumer was allowed to purchase.
This and other governmental programs resulted in strict rational provisions on gasoline, clothing and food, among other staple products, and affected every American household in the early 1940’s.
For permissible purchase of affected goods, government stamps and tokens were issued based on family size and came enclosed in ‘war ration books’. The red and brown stamps in the war books covered meats, cheeses, butter, fat and oil, while blue and green stamps dealt with processed, bottled, canned and frozen products. Special ’sugar buying cards’ were also introduced in 1943.
Each of these stamps authorized the purchase of rationed goods in specific quantity and time designation, and a point system was established.
Generated propaganda campaigns were broadcast through government-sponsored ads, posters, pamphlets and radio shows to urge patriotic Americans to obediently comply with their new circumstances of scarcity without complaint.
During this national period of sacrifice, factory jobs swelled as women were recruited en masse to aid in production of war supplies; meanwhile, thriving black markets emerged to meet additional consumer demand for sugar, gasoline and meat.
Americans were encouraged to grow their own Victory Gardens to further conserve and replenish food during the war, and approximately 20 million Victory Gardens accounted for 40% of American vegetables by 1945, according to US-history.com.
I was born during the ’80’s and just missed the economical recession of the 1970’s. Since I’m very young, my generation has never experienced a rationing like this before. I can’t help but wonder the probability of a similar situation arising in our current political environment. How would you have coped during this unique war-driven era, where overseas contention directly affected domestic responsibilities and consumption?
Image sources WWII Era Ration Cards, Ames Historical Society, Travel & History, Women In WWII
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A country without a memory is a country of madmen. - George Santayana
The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes. - Mark Twain
I believe that history is capable of anything. There exists no folly that men have not tried out. - Karl Gustav Jung
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Nice post.
You should read this:
http://www.mises.org/books/TRTS/
You know what would be an amazing thing? If you could make a post about Fascism which went in time of FDR, and how it could come again.
I heard that back in those days Govt squad roamed around the town to see if any lights were on, it was outlawed to work after night, and if you were found working, then you were thrown in Jail.
It’s interesting you should suggest that because I was just thinking about Smedley Butler today, and I am curious how many people are aware of the Business Plot to overthrow FDR and the implementation of Fascism in the United States
Fascinating really how the parallels of history slip into place. Thanks for the link.
I am not talking about any conspiracy plots at the time of FDR, I am saying FDR himself was fascist, he got elected 4 times(only president to have done that), and left the post only with his death.
The whole New Deal stuffed dynamite in the cracks of American economy, it extended the Great Depression and all that in the name of recovery.
The reason why politicians and businessmen wanted to “overthrow” FDR because of his own dictatorship, it was no different what they had planned for America, except merely for a change of hands.
Do you realize why people end up in debt-cycle, why our economy has so much massive debt?
Because our beliefs in faulty Economics. Keynesian economics suggest that in case of a recession people must merely spend more to get out of it.
The problem is lets say in a really simple scenario there is a wheat producer, a rice producer and a gold producer.
The rice producer exchanges rice with gold coins of gold producer and then exchanges gold coins for wheat of wheat producer, and he also does the same.
Now there is a drought one season, there is less production of rice, and wheat, of course the farmers would clench to their own produce, the economy is said to be in recession, but then the gold miner tells them “Hey guys you know why economy is in recession, because you guys are not spending enough and saving more, here, take these few extra gold coins and spend them, if you run out of it, and you still need more I will give you more, just spend and consume”.
And so the faulty cycle of getting out of a recession by creditory spending, this is the reason why one credit card company gives money to you to pay for another credit card company, because govt asks them to do so, and therefore the debt trap.
The fascist policies of FDR, expanding a recession which could have recovered on its own into a depression which went on for 10 years. The reason people were asked not to produce more was based on the fact that depression occurred because of overproduction, and people ran out of purchasing power to buy(or saved too much).
Saving never harms anyone, you may miss out on the great boom of the economy but if you start spending like crazy you will be stuck in debt-cycle forever.
Propaganda is an integral part of any dictator,and all the pictures you have posted are from FDR administration.
That sub-heading had me cracking up…;]
I think it would have been hard work running a household during the war, but it would have been harder in the UK after the war. Rationing didn’t end until the early 1950s and there was less of the feeling that you were doing your bit.
I’ve got an awesome reprint of a guide to running a household written in 1947 and says that you should be careful not to use to many points goods (luxury purchases) when you invite people over for dinner as you may make them feel awkward.
Renegade Division,
Before you start making assumption based off facts, you should definitely check your facts first. FDR never prolonged any recessions - he inherited the depression from the previous president Hoover. Check out these charts showing industrial production and GDP from that era.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1930Industry.svg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Gdp20-40.jpg
At the end of the day FDR saved capitalism in US and did not allow fascism to come to the US. If govt’s do not increase spending during recessions and provide tax breaks then recessions could definitely turn into depressions.
As for rationing I have lived in times of rationing and could tell you its no fun. I think that most people in US need to get some “credit rationing” since so many people tend to spend more than what they earn