Karen Huser
1. Huser, James Richard and Jeanne Ann. Personal Interview. April 2006.
- Families depended on food rations, while they conserved more of other materials. Only select foods were available; memories included the lack of available chocolate.
- Americans conserved more materials for their use in the war, including nylons which were popular among the women, such as his future wife.
- Families were often torn apart because relatives departed for the war. His brother Joe, who was only a few years old than him, joined the war, along with friends, immediately after graduating from Cathedral High School.
2. “Jack Benny, Gracie Allen and Eddie Cantor humorously describe gas rationing, 1942.” Eye Witness to History: 19 April 2006. <http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/vogas.htm>
- “Thirty percent of all cigarettes produced were allocated for service men, making cigarettes a scarce commodity on the home front by 1944. By the end of the war, rationing limited consumption of almost every product with the exception of eggs and dairy foods.”
- “Rubber became the first commodity rationed as the Japanese invasion of the Dutch East Indies cut off our supply. Gasoline rationing reduced the number of miles the average citizen drove and thus conserved rubber. Voluntary gas rationing proved ineffective and by the spring of 1942, seventeen Eastern states had instituted some form of mandatory gas rationing. By December mandatory controls extended across the entire country. On average, motorists who used their cars for "nonessential" purposes were restricted to 3 gallons of gas a week.”
- Almost immediately after President Roosevelt declared war on Japan, the United States’ citizens shifted their lifestyles to suit the economy better. All were affected by the flood of Americans volunteering to join the military.
3. Tishler, William P. “Sacrifice.” American History 102: Civil War to the Present: 19 April 2006. <http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture21.html>
- “The federal government encouraged Americans to conserve and recycle materials such as metal, paper, and rubber, which factories could then use for wartime production. Lots of everyday household trash had value: kitchen fats, old metal shovels, even empty metal lipstick tubes.”
- “The federal government also compelled Americans to cut back on foodstuffs and consumer goods. Americans, for example, needed ration cards to purchase items such as gasoline, coffee, sugar, and meat. Rationing eventually frustrated many Americans. For the first time in years, they had money to spend, but there were few goods available for purchase. This frustration kept mounting until the end of the war. When the war finally came to a close in 1945, industries returned to consumer production and Americans went on a buying spree of unprecedented proportions.”
- Heavily reliant on War Bonds to sell support of the war to American citizens; influenced fashion because of the lesser amounts of materials used
4. “Woman Fight the War from Home.” Women and World War II: 19 April 2006.
<http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/st/~cg3/pageone.html>
- “So in an effort to help the war effort, the government promoted "Victory Gardens." These were small gardens that family could have in their back yard which produced tomatoes, lettuce, and beans and other produce that would normally be found in the grocery store.”
- “Other items that women needed to ration were silk, nylon, rayon, cotton, and wool. All of these materials were in high demand because they made parachutes, aircraft and military clothing, tents, and even gunpowder bags. Food items that were rationed were coffee, tea, butter, and meat. As a result, housewives had to drive around to several different markets to find the supplies that they needed to create a well balanced meal. This too created a problem given the fact that gasoline was rationed as well.”
- Products as simple as sugar became difficult for the American housewives to locate; sugar was contained in molasses, which made alcohol, used in gunpowder for the military.
5. “Home Front during World War II.” Answers.com: 20 April 2006. <http://www.answers.com/Home%20Front%20during%20World%20War%20II%20in% 20the%20united%20States>
- “Labor shortages were particularly felt in agriculture. At the same time many agricultural commodities were more needed for the military and for the civilian populations of allies. In some areas with specialty crops, such as potatoes or apples, schools were temporarily closed at harvest time to enable students to work.”
- “In the US, the Civil Air Patrol was established, which enrolled civilian spotter in reconnaissance. Towers were built in coastal and border towns, and spotters were trained to recognize enemy aircraft, so as to report if any were seen. Civilian aircraft were also used as spotters for submarines, and in a few cases, actually armed with depth charges and bombs, which did attack subs on occasion and sometimes succeeded in destroying them.”
- “Blackouts were the common civilian response when warnings of potential enemy attack came. All lighting had to be extinguished to avoid helping the enemy in targeting at night.”