Rationing in the United States was introduced in stages during World War II, with the last of the restrictions ending in June 1946. In the wake of the 1973 Oil Crisis, gas stations across the country enacted different rationing policies and standby rationing plans were introduced.
World War I
Although the United States did not have food rationing in World War I, it relied heavily on propaganda campaigns to persuade people to curb their food consumption. Propaganda was targeted disproportionally towards middle class white women, and their organization provided some of the most substantial support for Hoover's program to limit consumption. Women's groups, like the Women's committees of the State Council of Defense, organized in a variety of ways to try to provide relief from the shortages. In Wisconsin, they organized to can and preserve the food that grew in the gardens of unoccupied houses. Some states also implemented their own programs to help conserve foods which were in limited supply due to the war. In Wisconsin, the Council of Defense asked wholesale bakers to sign a pledge to keep bread on the shelves for longer durations.
Food conservation, as the US government called it, was seen as an act of patriotism. People were encouraged to keep victory gardens or shop locally in order to conserve transportation for the war effort. People were also encouraged to participate in 'Meatless Mondays', and when meat was served, all parts of the animal were to be eaten, including the offal. Wheat alternatives were encouraged, such as barley, corn, oats and hominy.Goudiss, C. Houston and Alberta M. Foods That Will Win the War and How to Cook Them. New York: World Syndicate Company, 1918.
World War II
In the summer of 1941, rationing in the United Kingdom increased because of military needs, and German attacks on shipping in the Battle of the Atlantic. The British government appealed to Americans to conserve food to help the UK. The Office of Price Administration (OPA) warned Americans of potential gasoline, steel, aluminum, and electricity shortages. It believed that with factories converting to military production and consuming many critical supplies, rationing would become necessary if the country entered the war. The OPA established a rationing system after the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.
Ration books, stamps, and tokens
The work of issuing ration books and exchanging used stamps for certificates was handled by some 5,500 local ration boards of mostly volunteer workers selected by local officials. Many levels of rationing went into effect. Some items, such as sugar, were distributed evenly based on the number of people in a household. Other items, like gasoline or fuel oil, were rationed only to those who could justify a need. Restaurant owners and other merchants were accorded more availability, but had to collect ration stamps to restock their supplies. In exchange for used ration stamps, ration boards delivered certificates to restaurants and merchants to authorize procurement of more products.
Each ration stamp had a generic drawing of an airplane, gun, tank, aircraft carrier, ear of wheat, fruit, etc. and a serial number. Some stamps also had alphabetic lettering. The kind and amount of rationed commodities were not specified on most of the stamps and were not defined until later when local newspapers published, for example, that beginning on a specified date, one airplane stamp was required (in addition to cash) to buy one pair of shoes and one stamp number 30 from ration book four was required to buy five pounds of sugar. The commodity amounts changed from time to time depending on availability. Red stamps were used to ration meat and butter, and blue stamps were used to ration processed foods.
To enable making change for ration stamps, the government issued "red point" tokens to be given in change for red stamps, and "blue point" tokens in change for blue stamps. The red and blue tokens were about the size of dimes () and were made of thin compressed wood fiber material, because metals were in short supply.Joseph A. Lowande, U.S. Ration Currency & Tokens 1942-1945.
There was a black market in stamps. To prevent this, the OPA ordered vendors not to accept stamps that they themselves did not tear out of books. Buyers, however, circumvented this by saying (sometimes accurately, as the books were not well-made) that the stamps had "fallen out". In actuality, they may have acquired stamps from other family members or friends, or the black market.
Most rationing restrictions ended in August 1945 except for sugar rationing, which lasted until 1946 in some parts of the country.
Tires, gasoline, and automobiles Tires were the first item to be rationed by the OPA, which ordered the temporary end of sales on 11 December 1941 while it created 7,500 unpaid, volunteer three-person tire ration boards around the country. By 5 January 1942 the boards were ready. Each received a monthly allotment of tires based on the number of local vehicle registrations, and allocated them to applicants based on OPA rules. There was a shortage of natural rubber for tires since the Japanese quickly conquered the rubber-producing regions of Southeast Asia. Although synthetic rubber had been invented before the war, it had been unable to compete with natural rubber commercially, so the US did not have enough manufacturing capacity at the start of the war to replace the lost imports of natural rubber, moreover, wartime synthetic rubber was significantly inferior in quality to natural rubber. Throughout the war, rationing of gasoline was motivated by a desire to conserve rubber as much as by a desire to conserve gasoline.World War II on the Home Front
The War Production Board (WPB) ordered the temporary cessation of all civilian automobile sales on 1 January 1942, leaving dealers with one half million unsold cars. Ration boards grew in size as they began evaluating automobile sales in February (only certain professions, such as doctors and clergymen, qualified to purchase the remaining inventory of new automobiles), typewriters in March, and bicycles in May. Automobile factories stopped manufacturing civilian models by early February 1942 and converted to producing tanks, aircraft, weapons, and other military products, with the United States government as the only customer.
A national speed limit of was imposed to save fuel and rubber for tires. Later that month volunteers again helped distribute gasoline cards in 17 Atlantic and Pacific Northwest states.
To get a classification and rationing stamps, one had to appear before a local War Price and Rationing Board which reported to the OPA. Each person in a household received a ration book, including babies and small children who qualified for canned milk not available to others. To receive a gasoline ration card, a person had to certify a need for gasoline and ownership of no more than five tires. All tires in excess of five per driver were confiscated by the government, because of rubber shortages.
An "A" sticker on a car was the lowest priority of gasoline rationing and entitled the car owner to of gasoline per week. "B" stickers were issued to workers in the military industry, entitling their holder to up to of gasoline per week. "C" stickers were granted to persons deemed very essential to the war effort, such as doctors. Motorcycles had D papers and motorcycle users who were essential to the war got "M" papers. "E" and "R" stickers applied to small and heavy highway machinery, respectively. "T" stickers were made available for truckers. Lastly, "X" stickers on cars entitled the holder to unlimited supplies and were the highest priority in the system. Clergy, police, firemen, and civil defense workers were in this category.fuel ration stickers A scandal erupted when 200 Congressmen received these X stickers.Maddox, Robert James. The United States and World War II. Page 193 Referring to the lowest tier of this system, American motorists jokingly said that OPA stood for "Only a Puny A-Card".
As a result of the gasoline rationing, all forms of automobile racing, including the Indianapolis 500, were banned. Sightseeing driving was also banned. In some regions, breaking the gas rationing was so prevalent that night courts were set up to supplement the number of violators caught; the first gasoline-ration night court was created at Pittsburgh's Fulton Building on May 26, 1943.
With the pending capitulation of Japan, the printing of ration books for 1946 was halted by the OPA on August 13, 1945. It was thought that "even if Japan does not fold now, the war will certainly be over before the books can be used".Associated Press, "Government Halts Printing Of Ration Books For 1946", The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Tuesday 14 August 1945, Volume 51, page 2. After just two days, on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, and World War II gas rationing was ended on the West Coast of the United States.A History of the Petroleum Administration for War, 1941-1945: U.S. Petroleum Administration for War, Washington, 1946. Washington: U.S. Govt. Printing Office, 1946. Page 289Loicano, Martin. National World War II Museum
From the time that the United States entered the war at the end of 1941 to the August 1945 Japanese surrender, there was a dramatic shift in behavior: Americans drove cars less, carpooled when they did drive, walked and used their bicycles more, and increased the use of public transportation. Between 1941 and 1944 the total amount of gas consumed from highway use in the United States dropped to 32 percent. The federal agency named the Office of Defense Transportation (ODT) was established during the war to focus on controlling domestic transportation and was responsible for collecting data, conducting research and analysis, setting goals for fuel consumption and helping determine rationing coupon values. ODT-imposed rationing of gasoline to civilians caused car owners to drive less, thus extending tire life and conserving fuel to maximize the oil and rubber available for military use.
In January 1942 there was a study published by the Public Roads Administration that discovered that driving helped tires last four times as long as if the speed was . In order to extend the lifespan of tires and reduce their use, the ODT contacted the governors of all the states to establish lower speed limits. In March of the same year, to decrease the large number of drivers without passengers, car sharing programs were encouraged by the ODT and the Highway Traffic Advisory Committee for workplaces that had more than 100 employees.
Food and consumer goods As of 1 March 1942, dog food could no longer be sold in tin cans, and manufacturers switched to dehydrated versions. As of 1 April 1942, anyone wishing to purchase a new toothpaste tube, then made from metal, had to turn in an empty one.
Sugar was the first consumer commodity rationed, with all sales ended on 27 April 1942 and resumed on 5 May with a ration of per person per week, half of normal consumption. Bakeries, ice cream makers, and other commercial users received rations of about 70% of normal usage.
Civilians first received ration books—War Ration Book Number One, or the "Sugar Book"—on 4 May 1942, through more than 100,000 schoolteachers, PTA groups, and other volunteers.
By June 1942 companies also stopped manufacturing metal office furniture, radios, television sets, phonographs, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and sewing machines for civilians.
Coffee was rationed nationally on 29 November 1942 to every five weeks, about half of normal consumption, in part because of German attacks on shipping from Brazil.