World War 2: The American Home Front Quiz

Answer: One

The lone dissenting vote was cast by congresswoman Jeannette Rankin, 1880-1973, (R) Montana. She was the first woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives. Elected in 1916 and again in 1940. A lifelong pacifist, Rankin voted "no" as a matter of conscience. She had also voted against the U.S. entry into World War 1, along with 50 other house members.

Answer: Tires

On December 11th, 1941, the federal government ordered the sale of tires halted. The haste was caused by the realization the almost all of the sources of natural rubber had already been cut off by Japanese conquests in S.E. Asia. Synthetic rubber had been invented but was unsuitable for manufacturing the vast number of products needed for the war effort.

Rationed tire allocation to civilian use was controlled by local ration boards which made tires available, on a priority basis to certain professions ,e.g. police, emergency workers. and doctors.

Answer: Rosie the Riveter

The Rosie the Riveter campaign was created to move women into needed war production jobs. By the war's end, women were doing almost everything considered a man's job, from ferrying bombers, building ships and tanks, to deep sea salvage.

Interestedly, the poster most associated with Rosie today, which shows a strong young woman looking to her right and making a large muscle with her right arm, under the slogan "We can do it," was made during the war but lost until the middle 1980s. This poster became associated with the feminist movement of that time.

Answer: 7 and a half

The SS Robert E.Peary, named for the explorer, was built in the Kaiser shipyard in Richmond CA. starting 12 November, 1942. To set the record, Kaiser pre-assembled several pre-fabricated sections of the ship - a common practice in routine shipbuilding today.

A large number of cargo ships were needed for the war effort, as, in the early days until mid 1943, U-Boats were sinking them faster that they could be built. At the start it took an average of 355 days to build one ship, by 1943, the average build time was down to 43 days.

Answer: 35 mph

As a adjunct to the program to save gasoline and tires, a 35 mph speed limit was imposed throughout the country.

It wasn't as onerous then as it would be today. There were almost no limited access parkways (freeways) and many secondary roads were unpaved. Most standard cars of the day wouldn't do over sixty, even downhill.

Answer: Eggs

Yes, typewriters were rationed; got to keep that war time paperwork flowing. Eggs and milk were not rationed as these were produced locally. Long range perishable food transport was barely developed. Local shortages of these products resulted in informal rationing by dairy producers.

Butter, although a locally produced dairy product, was rationed as butter fat was used in making several types of munitions.

Answer: X

A stickers got 3 to 4 Gallons a week. B stickers were restricted to owners who worked in a defense industry and received up to 8 gallons. C stickers were on cars driven by persons considered "essential" to the war effort, doctors, etc. T stickers were found on trucks, X stickers were restricted to police, firemen, emergency personnel, the Clintons and, of course, Congress People. Just kidding about the last two, although it was big scandal when 200 congressmen were found to have X stickers on their personal cars. Drivers were issued ration books with dated coupons, appropriate to their ration level, so they could not exceed their sticker level.

Observation: How was it possible to regulate the amount of gas that was put into your car? Possibly because there were no self service gas stations back in the day. Attendants always filled your tank, washed your windshield, checked oil levels and tire pressure as well as radiator level, and made sure, under the law, that you got the amount of gas your sticker allowed. Is there such a thing as a "full service" gas station today?

Answer: Lucky Strike cigarettes

"Lucky Strike green has gone to war". What did that mean in the greater picture of the country's war effort? Not much, "Luckies" were one of the most popular cigarette brands in the country is the 1930's. The package was dark green, but in 1942 R.J. Reynolds decided to implement a long planned change to a white package because of fading popularity of the brand with women.

The stated public reason was to "save" the copper used to print the green packages. Thus the slogan which was used "ad nauseum" over the radio. Alas "green" was a war casualty and never returned to the cigarette package.

Answer: The WPA

The Works Progress Administration, WPA, was created in May of 1935 as part of President Roosevelt's "New Deal." During the great depression, it provided paid jobs for unemployed men and women to work on public works projects. It was dissolved in 1942.

The War Production Board WPB, was established, with foresight, in 1939 by executive order of President Roosevelt to supervise and administer conversion of peace time industries to war production. It was dissolved in late 1945, after the defeat of Japan.

The Office of Price Administration OPA. Formed in August 1941, it's purpose was to establish price ceilings where needed. It eventually came to control most rationing systems during the war. It was dissolved in 1947.

The Office of War Information OWI, was formed in 1942 to ostensibly, to provide and distribute war information to the nation. It rapidly became a generator of propaganda and a censorship agency. It was generally considered to be mismanaged and somewhat inefficient. It was dissolved in September 1945.

Answer: Minted steel pennies in 1943.

In order to conserve the vital war material, copper, the government decided to mint all 1943 dated pennies in zinc coated steel. (I guess steel wasn't as vital as copper.) Today a 1943 steel penny in uncirculated condition would be worth about .50 cents.

Inadvertently, about 40, 1943 dated pennies were stuck on the regular copper blanks. Twelve are known to exist and have an estimated value, based on rare coin auctions, in excess of $250,000.

Even rarer is a 1944 steel penny. One was sold at auction in 2007 for $373,000.

The private ownership of gold, in both coin and bullion form, was made illegal in 1933 by executive order of President Roosevelt. The U.S. Mint stopped production at that time. President Nixon reinstated legal private ownership of gold in 1968. The Mint now makes several types of gold coins for collectors and for people who want a hedge against inflation.