Rationing

Date Uploaded: 06/14/2024

Rationing

This World War II poster shows a smiling GI drinking a cup of coffee, with the caption "Do with less -- so they'll have enough! Rationing gives you your fair share."

Ask anyone who lived through the war on the U.S. "home front" about World War II and the conversation will quickly turn to rationing. America has always been - and thought of itself as - a land of abundance. Even in the depths of the Depression, there was enough to eat, if only you could afford to buy it. But as soon as the U.S. entered the war in the winter of 1941-42, shortages began. By 1943, it had become every citizen's duty to cut back on meat, sugar, coffee, canned foods, fuel, shoes, and consumer goods - so "they'll have enough."

Public Domain

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