OFFICE OF CIVILIAN DEFENSE (OCD). Established by executive order in May 1941, the OCD was authorized to coordinate national civilian defense and promote civilian morale. Headed by Fiorello La Guardia, it established local civilian defense units to provide air raid precautions, first aid, and fire protection in the event of enemy attack. In some towns, the local OCD planted “victory” gardens to provide extra foodstuff. In other areas, it led drives to collect scrap metal, paper, and rubber. Eleanor Roosevelt directed the OCD’s Volunteer Participation Committee, but when some of her appointments provoked criticism from Congress in 1942, she resigned. Approximately 10 million people played a part in the OCD during the war.
OFFICE OF ECONOMIC STABILIZATION (OES). Established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in October 1942 and headed by James F. Byrnes, the OES was intended to resolve disputes between various war agencies and establish policies on wages, salaries, prices, rents, and profits to control rises in the cost of living. The OES did not intervene directly in the economy but instead coordinated the work of the Office of Price Administration and the National War Labor Board. It was replaced in 1943 by the Office of War Mobilization, which later became the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion.
OFFICE OF FACTS AND FIGURES (OFF). Established in 1941 under the leadership of Archibald MacLeish and intended to provide the truth rather than propaganda during World War II, the OFF was replaced in June 1942 by the Office of War Information.
OFFICE OF PRICE ADMINISTRATION (OPA). Initially created as the Office of Price Administration and Civilian Supply in April 1941, the OPA was established on 28 August 1941. The OPA was authorized to issue price schedules on vital commodities but had limited powers. On 30 January 1942, Congress passed the Emergency Price Control Act giving the OPA greater power to impose price ceilings on goods, services, and rents. In October, the administration was granted power under the Economic Stabilization Act to introduce rationing. Almost 90 percent of food prices were frozen, and rationing was introduced on sugar, gasoline, oil, cars, tires, and meat. The OPA was headed first by Leon Henderson and from 1943 onward by Chester B. Bowles. After the war, rationing came to an end, and price controls gradually ended. The OPA was finally disbanded in 1947.
OFFICE OF PRICE STABILIZATION (OPS). Created on 9 September 1950 to control inflation during the Korean War, the OPS was able to introduce mandatory price controls but appealed to business and industry to observe “voluntary pricing standards.” However, on 26 January 1951 it ordered a general price freeze, but it proved difficult to enforce. The office was abolished in 1953.
OFFICE OF PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT (OPM). The OPM was established in January 1941 to supervise the production and allocation of raw materials for national defense production. It had two codirectors, Sidney Hillman and William Knudsen. Largely an advisory body, the OPM was replaced in 1942 after the United States entered World War II by the War Production Board under Donald M. Nelson.
OFFICE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT (OSRD). Established in June 1941 to recruit scientists to work on defense-related projects, the OSRD also compiled a roster of the nation’s scientific experts. Headed by Vannevar Bush, the office led developments in sonar, radar, fuses, bomb sights, penicillin, and sulfa drugs. It played a major role in directing the development of the atomic bomb, and in 1946 it was absorbed into the Atomic Energy Commission.
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES (OSS). The OSS was established by executive order in July 1942 to coordinate military intelligence during World War II. Headed by William J. Donovan, the OSS was responsible for gathering intelligence and espionage activities behind enemy lines. Allen Dulles was in charge of the office in Switzerland that used its location in a neutral country to gather information about the Nazi war effort. The OSS had more than 16,000 agents involved in espionage, sabotage, or guerrilla activities in Europe and Asia. The office was regarded with suspicion by military figures and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was judged to be unsuccessful in some quarters. It was abolished by President Harry S. Truman in 1945. However, the OSS paved the way for the Central Intelligence Agency, established in 1947.
OFFICE OF WAR INFORMATION (OWI). Established on 13 June 1942, the OWI replaced the Office of Facts and Figures as the agency responsible for the domestic dissemination of news and information relating to the war through the various forms of media—newspapers, radio, and film. The OWI produced posters intended to encourage war mobilization and support for the war effort, including the famous Four Freedoms series by Norman Rockwell. In addition, a photographic unit headed by Roy Stryker recorded aspects of war mobilization for publication. The OWI provided guidelines for filmmakers explaining what was appropriate to show in cinema. It was also involved in international activities intended to demoralize and undermine the enemy and encourage support from neutrals through the dissemination of information about Allied war aims and the progress of the war. The Voice of America radio broadcasts were established in 1942 under the OWI.
Led by Elmer Davis, the OWI tried to avoid being seen as a propaganda agency by concentrating on factual information, but it was viewed by critics as acting on behalf of particular interests. Republicans saw the OWI as a propaganda agency for Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic Party, and in 1943 Congress reduced its funding and its domestic activities were limited. It was abolished completely in 1945. See also WORLD WAR II.
OFFICE OF WAR MOBILIZATION (OWM). Headed by James F. Byrnes, the OWM was established on 27 May 1943 to replace the Office of Economic Stabilization to coordinate the various war agencies. It was renamed Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion in October 1944. Byrnes was named as director of war mobilization with responsibility for overseeing the activities of all federal agencies involved in civilian aspects of the war effort. Byrnes had authority to settle disputes between federal agencies involved in war production. At the end of World War II, the agency took on the task of directing the reconversion from military to civilian production. The OWM was abolished on 19 July 1945.
“OKIES.” The term Okie was an abbreviation of Oklahoman but was applied to the thousands of migrant workers and others who left the Midwestern states of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri, driven out by the economic collapse in the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. It became a pejorative term: As a character in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath said, it used to mean you were from Oklahoma, “Now it means you’re a dirty son of a bitch. Okie means you’re scum.” The majority of migrants headed West to California, Oregon, and Washington, where they were often met with resentment and discrimination. They did not assimilate into the local population until well into World War II.
OKINAWA. The Japanese-held island of Okinawa, located 300 miles south of mainland Japan, was the site of one of the fiercest battles of World War II in the Pacific. The U.S. invasion began from 1,300 ships on 1 April 1945 and involved more than 250,000 soldiers, marines, and seamen. More than 2,000 Americans and 110,000 Japanese lost their lives before the battle ended on 30 June 1945. A total of 36 U.S. ships were destroyed in the conflict, some by the kamikaze pilots who flew their planes into the ships, and 16 Japanese vessels were lost. The capture of Okinawa and Iwo Jima provided additional locations from which the United States could launch air raids against Japan.
OMAHA BEACH. Omaha Beach was the code name given to one of the U.S. locations in the Normandy landing on D-Day 6 June 1944. Situated between Sainte-Honorine-de-Pertes and Vierville-sur-Mer in northern France, the beach is five miles long and was heavily defended by German forces. The U.S. forces, many of them blown off course, suffered their heaviest casualties of the invasion, losing almost 3,000 out of the 34,000 troops who landed. The landing was ultimately successful only because of resourceful leadership on the beach and naval bombardment that gradually destroyed the enemy emplacements.
OPERATION HUSKY. Operation Husky was the code name given to the invasion of Sicily by more than 160,000 Allied troops on 9 and 10 July 1943 during World War II. It ultimately led to the fall of Sicily in August 1943 and the invasion of Italy. At the time, it was the largest amphibious landing in history, and it provided invaluable lessons for the Normandy landings on D-Day in 1944. See also OPERATION OVERLORD; OPERATION TORCH.
OPERATION OVERLORD. Operation Overlord was the code name given to the Normandy landings by Allied forces. Originally planned for 1 May 1944 but delayed due to bad weather, the invasion on D-Day 6 June 1944 eventually led to the defeat of Germany during World War II. See also OPERATION HUSKY; OPERATION TORCH.
OPERATION TORCH. Operation Torch was the code name given to the invasion of North Africa by more than 73,000 Allied troops at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers in Morocco and Algeria on 8 November 1942. The successful landings enabled the Allies to push into Tunisia, where they eventually overwhelmed the German army in April 1943. These victories paved the way for the invasion of Sicily in July. See also OPERATION HUSKY; OPERATION OVERLORD.
OPPENHEIMER, (JULIUS) ROBERT (1904–1967). Born to German immigrant parents in New York City, J. Robert Oppenheimer obtained a degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1925 and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of Göttingen, Germany, in 1927. After further research at different institutions, he joined the physics department at the University of California at Berkeley, where he became a full professor in 1936. He joined the Manhattan Project in 1942 and was involved in the development of the first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico. He resigned from the project after the first successful test explosion in July 1945 and returned to Berkeley. From 1947 until 1966, Oppenheimer worked at the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Princeton. He was a member of the General Advisory Committee to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) from 1947 to 1953 and was appointed president of the American Physical Society in 1948.
In 1953, Oppenheimer, whose doubts about the development of the hydrogen bomb were well-known, was accused of being a security risk by Senator Joseph McCarthy, and the AEC revoked his security clearance. Despite protests from the scientific community, the order was not overturned. Oppenheimer continued his work at Princeton and as a speaker and lecturer. In 1963, he was awarded the Enrico Fermi Prize for his contributions to science by President John F. Kennedy, and the award was presented by President Lyndon Johnson after Kennedy’s death.
ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES (OAS). The OAS was established at the Inter-American Conference in Bogota, Colombia, on 30 April 1948. It expanded on the Rio Pact. The OAS confirmed inter-American cooperation and hemispheric solidarity; prohibited military, political, or economic intervention in the affairs of one state by another; and promised cooperation with the United Nations and its goals. However, in allowing united military action between the United States and Latin American countries, it was also an extension of containment.
OWENS, JESSE (JAMES) (1913–1980). The African American champion athlete was born James Owens in Alabama, but his family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, when he was young. After studying at a local high school, he went to Ohio State University, where he quickly excelled in track and field. Having just missed qualifying for the 1932 Olympics, he set three new world records and equaled another in Ann Arbor, Michigan, before competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. There, in front of the German leader Adolf Hitler, Owens shattered the Nazi myth of Aryan supremacy when he won four gold medals, breaking Olympic records in the 100-meter race, 200-meter race, long jump, and the 400-meter relay. Hitler left the stadium before the presentations took place. African Americans also won gold medals in the 800-meter race (John Woodruff), 400-meter race (Archie Williams), and high jump (Cornelius Johnson).
After Berlin, Owens decided to return to the United States to take up commercial offers rather than tour Europe with the rest of the American team, and as a result he was banned from competing in amateur athletics by the American Athletics Union. The commercial opportunities involved competing against other sportspeople, like Joe Louis, or racing horses or motor bikes. Owens’s venture into the dry cleaning business ended in bankruptcy, and he was employed for some time in limited public relations roles. In the mid-1950s, he was employed by the State Department and sent as a goodwill ambassador to a number of countries in Asia, but in the 1960s he was prosecuted and fined for tax evasion. Owens did not take any part in the civil rights protests of the period and was highly critical of the athletes who adopted the black power pose at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. In the 1970s, Owens’s career improved, and he became a successful spokesman for the Ford Motor Company and American Express. In 1976, he was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Gerald Ford; after his death, he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.