Rationing
By early 1943 shortages of food, gasoline, and other war materiel were beginning to be felt throughout the nation. Renee Pike gave a sense of what it was like on the home front in letters to her husband, George:
Rosie the Riveter poster. (National Archives)
Boy, what I wouldn’t give for a nice banana. But that is just wishful thinking. I don’t think anyone in America has seen a banana for over six months… the civilian population is certainly feeling the shortage of food-stuffs now. Last week we didn’t have a scratch of butter in the house from Monday until Friday… It’s a lot worse on we people in the country than it is on the city folks. They can go out and get some kind of meat every day while we have plenty of meatless days up here. They can also stand in line for 2 or 3 hours for a pound of butter, but up here there are no lines as there is no butter… Yesterday I didn’t take any meat… because I’m sick of the same thing. You see, the thing that they have the most of is sausages but people can’t keep eating the same thing every day.328
Since our more recent wars in Vietnam and the Middle East have produced so much controversy, many are amazed at the national unity evidenced during World War II. This letter gives us an insight into how that unity came in large part from the sense of shared sacrifice by both the military and civilian populace. Every American had his or her part to play. Our subsequent armed conflicts have not touched most of the nation other than our military servicemen and their families. Somehow, we have been involved in wars where large numbers of our citizens have had no underlying perception that the nation’s survival was at stake. If we are going to send our sons and daughters to war, it should be a matter of our survival as a nation, and the effort should involve sacrifice on the part of every American.
Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds…?
—Deuteronomy 4:33–34