Life on the Homefront
Stopping Inflation
Because of the high demand for workers and raw materials, wages and prices rose. To fight off inflation, President Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration and the Office of Economic Stabilization. These two helped to regulate prices of farm products, food, and other household goods.
Rationing
To save food and supplies for the troops overseas, rationing became an important part of everyday life. Ration books and tokens were issued to families, limiting the amount of goods they could buy at one time. There were four types of rationing: uniform coupon rationing, which provided an equal amount of a good for everyone; point rationing, which gave an equal amount of a product for every coupon; differential coupon rationing, which provided consumers with equal shares according to varying needs; and certificate rationing, which provided a product to a consumer only if it was necessary. Goods that were rationed include tires, gasoline, rubber, nylons, sugar, coffee, meats, and cheeses.
Victory Gardens
Victory Gardens were a way that families could help with the war effort. They could provide food for themselves so the produce from farmers could be sent overseas. Having a victory garden was a way for every American to show patriotism. "In 1942, about 5.5 million gardeners participated in the war garden effort, making seed package sales rise 300%. The USDA estimated over 20 million garden plots were planted with an estimated 9-10 million pounds of fruit and vegetables grown a year, 44 percent of the fresh vegetables in the United States" (Bassett 1981).
War Bonds
Buying war bonds was a way that U.S. citizens on the homefront could support the war effort. When a war bond was purchased, the cost of the bond was lent to the government. That money, plus interest, was promised to be repaid to the purchaser at a later date. The money from war bonds was used to buy supplies for the American troops. Purchasing bonds was a way that middle and high income families could aid the war effort. The cartoon below was created to influence more Americans to buy war bonds.
Defense on the HomefrontAfter the attack on Pearl Harbor, the fear of another attack by air motivated the U.S. to camouflage its important aircraft plants on the west coast. The Army Corps of Engineers used weaves of moss and dirt to make it look as if nothing important was there, only a small town or suburb. These canopies covered entire cities. From the air, these cities were transformed into a completely different place. These photos show what a key war plane manufacturing plant in Burbank, California, looked like from above after elaborate camouflaging. |
Sources
<www.ameshistoricalsociety.org>
<www.sidewalksprouts.wordpress.com>
<www.youtube.com>
<news.yahoo.com>
<www.sidewalksprouts.wordpress.com>
<www.youtube.com>
<news.yahoo.com>