Rationing in the U.S. During World War II
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ย. 2015
- In 1942 a rationing system was begun to guarantee minimum amounts of necessities to everyone (especially poor people) and prevent inflation.
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Tires were the first item to be rationed in January 1942 because supplies of natural rubber were interrupted. Gasoline rationing proved an even better way to allocate scarce rubber. In June 1942 the Combined Food Board was set up to coordinate the worldwide supply of food to the Allies, with special attention to flows from the U.S. and Canada to Britain.
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By 1943 one needed government issued ration coupons to purchase coffee, sugar, meat, cheese, butter, lard, margarine, canned foods, dried fruits, jam, gasoline, bicycles, fuel oil, clothing, silk or nylon stockings, shoes, and many other items. Some items, like automobiles and home appliances, were no longer made. The rationing system did not apply to used goods like clothes or cars, but they became more expensive since they were not subject to price controls.
To get a classification and a book of rationing stamps, one had to appear before a local rationing board. Each person in a household received a ration book, including babies and children. When purchasing gasoline, a driver had to present a gas card along with a ration book and cash. Ration stamps were valid only for a set period to forestall hoarding. All forms of automobile racing were banned, including the Indianapolis 500 which was cancelled from 1942 to 1945. Sightseeing driving was banned.
Mother's family all had victory gardens in their front yards. My aunts would gather for huge canning sessions doing tomatoes, pickles, beans, jellies, and jams. Free food and healthy. Why did people stop producing their own food?
Much easier to buy. Staples are always in season. One can buy enough fresh vegetables for two weeks anytime, not grow potatoes, and use whatever you grew over the year. Try keeping a bag of potatoes for 9 months.
Convenience. It will be the end of us.
I could only imagine the outrage today if we were in a situation where we were forced to ration.
Back then, there were no computers to help manage rationing. Imagine all the manual labor it took to manage the rationing programs! I think if rationing was mandated today, people would use an app to keep track of ration points and when they expire. Point of sale systems could be modified to ensure customers only buy with the points they have.
If it was a worldwide conflict like this I don't think the government would tolerate any disobedience so protesters would probably imprisoned immediately.
If we'd had rationing during the great toilet paper shortage, everyone would have had enough.
It's coming
Just look at the outrage about wearing a simple mask
My mom still has some of those ration stamps. They are dated so you couldn't use them until after a certain date.
They probably are worth something to a collector
I still have my ration book. Babies got the same ration books as adults.
I have a little pack My Grandfather had. He died in 78, and was in his 40s in WW2! WW1 ended when He was still in High School!
Same
At the time, neighbors, friends, and families would trade them if they didn't use something.
My grandpa worked for Crucible Steel in Syracuse at that time. He told me he got extra gas stamps so he could get to work. Steel production was considered critical.
Yes, people in critical industries got exemptions and extra coupons.
My dad put refrigeration in PT boats
My grandmother is 101. Her brother still owns 321 of the 1,000 acres his family bought back in 1836. Grandmother remembers when rations were going on every night her brother would have to ride the entire 1,000 acres on a horse to make sure no one was hiding in the fields stealing crops they were growing for the rations. She said thievery was big back then. He slept during the day and was up all night protecting the farm. She remembers someone tried to steal a cow right out of their barn. The first time she said police had to come to their house.
@@lacyhay9022 Wow, that's pretty underhanded!!
Nothing like the ol' five finger discount!!
I don't know where you are located, but what would those people have done had they been in Britain, or other Allied countries?
Having to ride 1,000 acres every night is practically inexcusable, since people should have been doing their part for the war effort and not stealing from their neighbors!!
Oh well, I should get down off of my soapbox, but things like this irk me to no end!!!
@@mimiduquette8786 they had helped supply for the war efforts. They was one of the farms picked to feed people during the struggle. But they had several neighbors that would try to abuse the system. People found out what their farm was being used for. But stealing was happening at night. And the reason the police was involved the one time was because their bull was trying to be stolen and the thief got injured. He ended up in the hospital.
The impact of rationing was mainly on people in metropolitan areas. Both my parents were from rural areas during the war. Their families grew their own food, had cows, chickens, sheep....etc.. Never heard either of my parents complain about rationing.
Everyone was encouraged to have a "Victory Garden" and raise chickens.
Sometimes I wish they would encourage people to do it today. Because of the cost of veggies in the stores today. Mainly the fresh veggies
Same here. My grandfather was a dairy farmer and also could grow anything. I don’t think that they really felt the shortages like others. They could get fuel because it was needed to run the tractors. Even so, a team of horses was kept because my great grandfather was slow to get away from the old ways.
Shoes, tires, gasoline, and certain clothing were rationed in rural areas. All grocery stores had to ration meat, dairy, sugar, and other commodities. If your farm or homestead wasn't on the radar you could live on off of your own produce and livestock.
I was born May 10 1943 in Chicago . I have My family's rations book . There is a cover book with every ones name and age and the stamps inside . there was 7 of us so there was a lot of stamps in it .
That’s awesome that you still have it! I hope you are doing well in these crazy times. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you for your reply, where did you grow up? East side? I grew up in NW Indiana.
@@AnthraxBird Grew up in south shore 1 and 1/2 blocks from da lake on east 75th st .
True Americans and a great American country. We will most likely not see America like that again.
Really I would love to see that happen ,but I doubt it.
@@jamessisko7976 I just noticed what I posted before! It should have read "not see" I just corrected it
And people used their yards for gardens.
In Britain, Most people turned their gardens over to growing all kinds of edibles. Public Parks, even the Royal parks , became small farms. Rationing was severe, and got much worse as time went on.
In America, if you live in a HOA you can get fined or evicted if you have a vegetable garden. HOAs are mini dictator-ships.
I still have a victory garden. You might over 60 to remember them. We got 1 pair of shoes for the year and they had to last. as kids we really didn't care we got to go bare foot all summer.
I think the time of using yards for gardens may happen again in the not too distant future.
@@paulwilson1260 I plant a veggie garden every year. I grow thing I'll use or some family cn use.
At 6:00 they speak of gasoline rationing. The average family got four gallons per week-enough for sixty miles BUT the politicians (senate and congress) got unlimited gas. Always laws for thee not for me from the political class. It is the same today.
Yes, and , if Socialism takes hold there will be rationing like you (anyone) never seen. But, the politicians and the rich will not be affected. There will be different rules. No joke, no offense, just the truth.
@@oldblackstock2499 Three words: socialism doesn't work!!! Look at the former Communist Bloc countries.
@@oldblackstock2499 we don't need socialism when we can look at the republican party as a good example of this. The Senators are all too rich and out of touch to understand the nuances of everyday life and living on a shoestring. Laws for thee and not for we. The republican party also LOVES giving things to corporate lobbyists to line their own fat pockets, but they will introduce laws that force the middle class to suffer. Capitalism is a better system but the capitalism we have in North America is corrupt
@@MonsterSandwich99
Democrats don't wear halos by any means. They are going to show their horns soon enough.
@@MichaelSHartman I never said they did. I'm a moderate.
2:25 Note that the guys handling the scales weighing fish are "steadying" the scales with one or both hands. An old trick to short the weight provided. That's NYC, alright.
My mother was a child during World War II and told me all about rationing and her mother making the girl children in the family dresses from flour sacks. The flower companies used printed material for their sacks during the war so that mothers could make dresses for their daughters.
i like that. They should bring that back.
some had prints that were made into shirts for the men. Strange is back a few years like the 80-90`s era they sold shirts and dresses made to look like those of the depression and WW 2 era.
Who recognizes Eric Sevareid as the host? Legendary newsman of CBS's Murroe's Boys. There's some history there for sure.
For those interested in this music
In the mood - Glen Miller
A day when all Americans pulled together.
People like to say that on TV shows. The reality isn't quite that simple.
100% CORRECT, THEY DIDNT HOP A FENCE, SIGN UP FOR WELFARE THEN COMPLAIN THAT THE US IS RACIST OR UNFAIR BEFORE THE INK DRIED ON THEIR WELFARE APPLICATIONS WHICH WILL AUTOMATICALLY BE GRANTED
America is tearing itself apart now and behavior that would have been considered treason is acceptable today.
@@1973Washu who think the democrat's are made up off foreign invaders who want Mexico to take over Californian, my cable bill now comes in Spanish front ,English on behind it , I see advertising boards with Spanish only in Whittier California . what think going on its called slow take over
@@1973Washu !00% correct, can you imagine having to develop the A bomb in a nearly manufactured City and giving the order to drop it twice in Todays fringe society and nearly Communist US HATING media CIRCUS?
Most grateful for your posting this clip. Both parents were adults at that time so they very well knew rationing. I have several of the books even now
It has set me to pondering amazement at the sacrifices, cooperation, unified spirit, and ingenuity Americans showed during WWII. Radio programs spousing encouragement, patriotism, and support of nation. It has been mentioned to me that those of that time don't speak due to bad memories. I have great admiration for them.
not every one helped-the unions went on strike during the war
@@charleslindsay3201
My research stated that unions promised not to strike during the war which they did, but in 1946 unions set a record number of strikes.
@@MichaelSHartman auto industry was one of the big ones in 1946 so I've heard
The greatest generation of all
In the 60's some people still grew "war gardens", the whole yard was garden food.
Now people get fines because home owner associations deam it a "blight" on the community. What a joke america has become
Enjoyed this video, a real example of resourceful teamwork in a a society.
We weren’t perfect and yes injustice existed, but no more so than in any other country, and America was more the land of opportunity than anywhere else.
Bullshit.the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Keep saying something long enough and the dumb sheep will believe it.
very true! It’s also important not to forget the use of Japanese internment camps in the US during WW2.
@@reinaknowles8987 of course and we never do. There is not a country in existence today that we can’t sit down and enumerate any number of acts deemed perfectly reasonable at the time
At which history now casts a side eye. Which has nothing to do with the fact that for legal immigrants over the last 150 years and more, the United States was and is the land of opportunity.
People are resourceful. Some for the good some for the bad.
My mother told me that her shoes during that time had cardboard soles so she couldn't get them wet - now that's sacrifice for the war effort. Those W W 2 people were something else.
My granddad was a shoe cobbler. Lots of shoes and boots were resoled and repaired then. People put taps on heels and toes to slow down wear!
@@williamkeith8944 There were lots of shoe repair shops back then. Most of today's shoes can't be repaired. I grew up with taps on my shoes. As an adult, I've had the steel or rubber ones occasionally.
It had nothing to do with shoe repair - the leather was being diverted into the war effort - my mother worked in advertising for a big department store - L. S. Ayres.
@@wadebarnett2542 0
The greatest generation our country ever saw. Wish we had them today!!
Shut up boomer
Shut up boomer
Iota this is a GI generation of course you millennials don’t care about it
It is a shame that we forget what hardship really is. Can't afford an Ipad or superstar tennis shoes. UGH
So,you're inferring that I'm spoiled and self serving because I alreadyown a pair of Stan Smith/blue and white and I want a new pairof Stan Smith/green and white, plus a pair of Rocky Alpha 2168?I want what I want WHEN I want it!!I guess I'm not a very good candidate for practicing rationing.....(Still, that's two pairs of shoes I'm allowed)
@@brucemarsico6 America will go through this again soon. The globalists (Illuminati) are colluding with the Democrats to bring down America. See GlobalistAgenda.org, especially the section titled, "End Game." They want the holocaust part two on a world-side basis.
Shut up boomer
IOTA!Your response is uncalled for.How do YOU know Madeleine is a boomer.And what if she is? I just bought some Stan Smith shoes.I just bought some Rocky Alpha Force shoes.I just bought six bottles of Ferrari sparkling brut rose.I saved all year for these things.and yes, I am a boomer.So, YOU shut up Iota...……………………………...
@@brucemarsico6 Thanks Bruce.
Well theres something I never knew, the USA were rationed during the second world war. 52 years old and I've never heard of it before and I watch plenty of news reels, documentaries and movies about the time. I thought there was no more surprises left. Glad I found this little gem. 👍😉
Whoa...really
I'm 19 years older than you. My parents talked about the Depression and WW II rationing occasionally. I wish I'd been interested enough to ask more questions.
Sheltered life you have lived if you did not know about ration
I knew about rationing in Europe, Russia and South Asia, but not about the USA.
@@liamkelly5722 Rationing amounted to little more than an annoyance and inconvenience for Americans compared to the desperate shortages Europeans and Asians were suffering. Americans may not have been able to take long leisurely drives and may not have had as much coffee, sugar, and tobacco as they would've liked, but nobody was literally on the brink of starvation.
1:11 That alone is justification for the war! Taking away coffee from Americans is like taking tea away from the Brits.
@33kaus holokaust America stopped trading with the Germans and Japanese because of a little thing called invading other countries, countries their armed forces had no business being in.
It's a good thing America grew its own tobacco and didn't have to rely on having it shipped from overseas. That really would've gotten our dander up.
My Dad told me that there were no new rubber tires so everybody used tires made from Butyl. He said you couldn't drive more than 10 miles without a flat. One cup of sugar per week. One pound of coffee every 5 weeks. It was inconvenient but not near as bad as it was in the UK or Germany.
In 2020 , who else can remember rationing ? I'm in the UK , oh boy , was it tough .
That was way before my time but we had rationing in Canada too. I have my grandmother's cookbooks from then and I use them all the time...even the war cake.
@@rosestewart1606 My Mom taught me the recipe for Chocolate Wacky Cake!!
Really, really delicious!!
I like to know more about what happened???how hard was it ??
There never was a gasoline shortage, driving had to be curtailed to better utilize the rubber and the tires.
And, you know, tanks and Jeeps and airplanes and stuff needed gas.
It may not have technically been a shortage, but it was an allocation issue.
@@almostfm it was a well known fact that when the war ended one of the things that many people needed was a new car the average age of a car then was either six or seven years old. The last new car .models were built in early 1942, that would have been 3 and half years without any new cars. People scrapped their oldest cars if they felt they would have to put too much money into them and learned to take care of and even baby the car they had, and yes there was car pooling. As everyone knows gas tires and oil was rationed. By the way it would seem to me that more people would have also learned how to hunt back then as well.
@@michaelweizer7794 With the depression and then the war, a lot of people grew at least a portion of their own food. I know my mom mentioned that her parents raised rabbits, and they'd trade the rabbit meat with other neighbors who had different kinds of vegetables. Luckily it's a part of the country where you can grow just about anything except bananas, coffee, and chocolate.
FACT: 95% of ALL SENATORS applied for and were GRANTED UNLIMITED GAS COUPONS. 95%. Think about THAT for a minute. Gas was NOT rationed due to a "gas shortage", it was because of the "rubber shortage".
Were condoms rationed too?
@@nickv1008 From what I read, there were no restrictions. I didn't find much about the subject.
That kind of makes sense though. Senators and congress members had to travel around the country for voting sessions and war bond rallies, etc. Also there were only a few hundred of them, it wouldn't have effected the supply.
“Two pairs of shoes rationed a year.” Can you imagine the whining that would bring today?
Todd Tepper
I'm unusual, and poor, but I rarely buy a pair every two years.
@@barbaravick5634 The last time I brought new shoes was 4 years ago. 👟
I'm fine with 2 pairs of shoes per year. And if the shoes are of good quality, they'd easily last much longer than a year.
It would result in the same amount of whining as during WW2.
Man, I wish I'd gotten two pairs of shoes a year as a kid in the 1970s. People don't seem to understand how poor most people in the US were, or are now.
I remember my dad being an air raid warden in N.J. during the war. I was four or five.
Loved this
Thanks a lot for this Story, I didn't know about the Rationing during WWII in the USA.
Here in Germany the Rationing between 1939-1949 is Topic of many Publications whitch gave it also in the USA Rationing is more or less unknown.
Imagine the protests if people were told to do that now
My Grand parents owned a farm. My grandmother canned everything. Other than flour sugar and oil, they had everything they needed. They used pig lard so really, oil was no problem.
RC Hobbyist You bring out a important part of the Great Depression, people on farms with cattle, pigs and chickens did not go hungry. The soup lines and food lines were in the larger cities during the depression but when ww2 started it was pretty much full employment with a lot of women coming in to work in the factories because so many men were drafted, these were Hard Times for most.
@@fasx56 Imagine what it was like living on a grey,rocky, damp little island, totally reliant on her merchant ships bringing in the most basic food for the entire population.
Everyone cooked with lard then. Oil wasn't really used until the anti fat hysteria of the mid 1970s.
@@qwertasdcfghjklmo24z My mother told me during the depression, they ate lard sandwiches at school. No hot lunches there. Today's kids are SPOILED.
Boy really makes you realize how spoiled we are. Yet people are complaining over the smallest things. Especially people like the Kardashians who do nothing but still gain money. You had to work hard to earn and they didn't even complain then!
Somberlateralus OK boomer
@@blackboxbs8642 Just stating facts 👌
Was baby at the time but was told my mother took in boarders while my father was away, the "rent" was paid in ration cards.
@Kathy Childress Oh, now come on!!!!
Alot of folks took in boarders from what I heard..
I find these rationing/victory gardens/neighbors help neighbors ideas very interesting. Who knows...we could use the info to cut some corners and/or become more frugal on some things. (not talking about putting Commerce out of business, just being more careful with money. The way things are going lately...)
A lot of the rationing was BS. Farmers in WA and Oregon dumped milk, butter and cheese in the rivers because they couldn't sell dairy products because there was no shortage. Also my Uncle in Chehalis owned a lumber mill and the government tried to tell him he couldn't buy tires for his trucks because of rationing. He said fine, I'll shut down the mill and they let him get tires.
A lot of it was a show of support for the allies who really were rationing very austerely.
@@guiltypleasures01 Maybe true, but dumb.
There were real, legitimate shortages. Partly this was because transportation was disrupted and supplies couldn't be moved as easily as before the war, but they also occurred because the hugely enlarged military required a great deal more food. Furthermore, so many young men going into the military reduced the number of workers; fewer workers meant less food was produced.
@@hebneh I never denied there were some real shortages. I am denying there were shortages of dairy products. More people in the military doesn't increase demand, it just moves the demand overseas. I agree about the problems with transportation.
@@hebneh The metal drives continued after there wasn't a shortage. The government wanted to keep up the momentum. Many metal children's toys like trikes and bikes were collected. They may have rusted in a junk pile.
Look how thinner they were. Rationing did them a favor!
Dieticians in the UK today, say that our UK wartime diet made us the healthiest ever. I don't recall ever being hungry, but we did eat some 'new' vegetables, that tasted quite sweet. It's surprising how much, when you have been deprived of sugar for years. Fat people were a rarity, and now, it is recconed that they had hormonal problems. A great reconstruction of life in Britain during the war,, was the BBC TV series ''Wartime Farm'.
There were no fast food joints. People cooked and ate at home.
They weren't fat to begin with, and food was actually food, and not grown from seed that has been meddled with by monsanto to remove half the nutrients. And the cows didnt have to be fed a constant stream of antibiotics because they actually ate grass instead of corn. Etc etc
People walked alot more back then. Public transportation was the norm back then, not driving everywhere.
I've heard my dad speak of this many times,he made truck axles in Cleveland during the war.
Nostalgic, things were simpler, but you need to remember that a lot of those stars in the windows never made it home. They gave their lives to protect this country, what would they say if they could see it today? Did we do a good job of preserving their gift?
I'd like to think they did.
One of my uncles never returned alive. I never met him.
People came together, UNLIKE today’s America
@@garybrunecz7785 maybe you would have loved the Russians if we would have just let them take over all of the rest of Europe like that other Bastard Stalin wanted to.That is if it weren't for us!
They came together to expand the freemasonic judeo empire americans are so brainwashed thinking their country used to be ok, but now is so degenerate. No. Its always been degenerate, it was just hidden in the past
For Americans, these times were tough. For the British, times were much tougher.
For the Russians the war was almost unbearable. Same with Poland.Same with eastern China. No food production, no freedom of movement.Constant threat of bombardment.People that were alive resorted to cannibalism in Leningrad. They boiled books for any type of broth. Over a million died. Britain was lightly scarred compared to the Soviet Union or China.
My statement wasn't to ignore those who also were fighting the Nazis. The Battle of Stalingrad alone is full of stories of great human suffering. I have respect for anyone from that period in human history who not only survived but succeeded.
When we all had skin in the WAR!!!!
Yes, the WW2 generation had to pay for the war and had to be conscripted to fight.
Then the boomers came to power and decided it was okay to borrow for endless wars and pile the debt onto future generations.
The debt for WWII has not been repaid yet.
sorry but BS
"Smoked whatever they could get when they could get it."..... This is when a lot of tobacco companies changed the wording on their tobacco cans to say "Smoking Tobacco" instead of "Pipe Tobacco"......brands like Velvet & Prince Albert etc., They wanted to draw in ""cigarette"" smokers to start rolling their own or even take up pipe smoking with their canned tobacco........and......it's way cheaper to roll your own.
British services also handed out cigarettes and tobacco
I still roll my own !
Cant afford tailor maids!
@@jamesbenedict7206 all you need is a good simple small cigarette roller like the "Rizzla" brand. You can buy filters. Back in my smoking days I tried a lot of different tobaccos in my "Rizzla" roller. I liked "Velvet". That had been around since at least the 1930s....maybe earlier. I still have 3 large sealed cans of it from like 30 years ago.
@@inkey2 do you have Prince Albert in a can?
@@jamesbenedict7206 hahahha I am old enough to know that joke. But just in case you are serious.....no. I stopped smoking years ago. I said to myself that "I have to quit by a certain age as it will definitely cause me problems in later years." But you know what?.......I still crave tobacco after all these years. I really loved to smoke. Back then there were tobacco shops around with huge selections of brands......pipe tobacco, cigarettes, chew, cigars. But now of course they want to ban "everything". The powers that be want to control everything....even what goes in your body. If people enjoy smoking, drinking, shoveling down Big Mac's....let them do it. Let them die young and happy.
8:10 - 8:17 that part had me dying 🤣
Me too, it's defiantly true- but as you know it works both ways!
Great video - loved that old NY accent.
My grand father made drip gas from 3 oil wells on his farm in the 40s. It was simple. Warm vapor gas would come up from the ground thru pipe called casing 5 inches in dia and some bigger. He would tape in the casing with a 2 inch pipe and run it to a barrel. in the cold weather the warm vapors from the 5 inch casing would then run thru the 2 inch pipe and condense into liquid gasoline. i can remember him having as many as 50 barrels of gasolene stored for spring summer and fall. It would not make in warm weather only cold weather. No shortage of gasolene for Grandpa. Some would say it would burn up his valves in his vehicles. But Grandpa was smart. He would add oil to the drip gasolene which was white, and it would prevent from burning up the valves. My grandfather was very innovative in other ways but will save that for another day.
Did he make shine too
During the war, at deer camp one November, one of the men hunting with my grandfather had a book of gasoline ration cards for traveling salesmen, who received more due to their line of work. Before the man went home from deer camp, he washed up, shaved his face and put on his business suit and tie.
Alright everybody Listen up.
We need the bananas to feed the soldiers and we are going to have to replace the banana creme filling in the twinkies to a vanilla flavor. Sorry for the inconvience but our man need that potassium.
My uncle worked at an arms depot along the ship channel in Houston. He told us that he watched train loads of tin cans from scrap drives buried on the property. Said the drives were mostly for civilians to feel a part of the war effort.
Narrated by legendary CBS newsman Eric Severeid.
A.K.A. Eric Clarified
"Smoked whatever they could get whenever they could get it"
Bob Thomas haha. That made me smile, too.
Hey! Same as me! 😎🔥
"Lucky Strike Green has gone to war!"
@@christopherhelms7290 Cork tips and all..
My grandma taught at a rural one room schoolhouse and would tell me about how during fall she'd take the children out to collect milkweed silk used for insulating uniforms. She also said rationing was ridiculous in her opinion because this country produced enough to feed and equip the entire world. She and the neighboring farm wives would have 'canning parties' in which they'd get rationed sugar explaining it was for canning-but inevitably they'd bake cakes with it and always laughed about how rapidly that cake would disappear since it was a special treat due to rationing. My grandpa told the story of how he needed new tires for a tractor-and he had to go to the county courthouse to request them. He said he knew the agent for years before rationing and thought for sure he'd get his tires-the supposed 'friend' said "NO" to his request and grandpa never forgot for forgave him. He also took lots of scrap metal in and remembered the huge scrap metal drives.
Your grandfolks sound like my kind of people.
@@evegreenification They were the salt of the earth. Honest, loving, no nonsense. I miss them so much. My Dad and I used to take firewood to them on Saturdays. Grandma always had pork steak with mashed potatoes and pork gravy. It'd stick to your ribs on cold winter days.
Amazing how during WWII recycling was so important to the provision of war materials, it’s a pity that as a generalisation we, the whole world, have a lower recycling level than back then, today we just throw it away and buy new, very few people recycle everything they possibly can, perhaps when the raw materials run out we will, and wonder why we didn’t do it sooner, although we won’t need tyres, except for push bikes, there won’t be any petrol left to use anyway.
Much of what we have is one use plastic. In the past there was metal, and glass. I recently found coffee that was sold in a Mason jar. In 2020, that coffee would have flown off the shelf.
Future generations will be mining our landfills for raw materials.
I've always wondered- to what extent was basic medical and health care rationed during the war, such as prenatal and neonatal care? My wife, and others I know who were born during the Second World War, were born in some of the country's best hospitals, but were born along with a twin who didn't survive- others lost younger siblings who were stillborn or died shortly after birth....
Correct. My grandma had a few that were miscarriage or born dead.But she also received care in army hospitals.
“Most Americans were law abiding”, so black market fuel stamps in WWII and bootleg alcohol during prohibition wasn’t illegal? I am confused, either they were law abiding or weren’t, which one is it?, and if Americans thought they were hard done to by rationing then they should have come to the United Kingdom and experienced the WWII and post war rations, then they would have known real deprivation.
Yes,Or try living in Havana, Cuba, as a Cuban and not a tourist, and see howwell you might fare dealing with shortages on a daily basis.It's been like this for the common people there since 1959...not the Castrosand their ilk......no end in sight for the ordinary folks.
They weren't law abiding at all. Rationing was a joke in urban areas because somebody always knew someone who get something.
During the Vietnam War people on the home front were driving their new 69 Dodge Charger to Woodstock NY to get high and watch THE WHO in concert.
So?What, does what you're writing about, have to do with rationingin World War II? We all know the spoiled, over indulged, USAbaby boors were living it up with mindless concerts while peoplewere being blown to bits in Indochina...…..No sacrifice there in Woodstock unless one went begging aroundfor more weed and LSD. An over indulged event.....
the use of the word "most" means that some were not so law-abiding but the majority was. It really isnt that hard to understand.
7:46
Jake Chudnow's song "moon men". Instrumental uploaded by My Content
The Greatest Generation aren't just empty words. Everyone today should watch this and discover just how proud and patriotic we Americans once were. For a while we came together after 9-11, but WWII lasted four long years. I don't think we have the stamina and backbone our parents and grandparents had.
Farmers also got X ration cards too keep the tractors running
I feel luck to have experienced New York City during the late 70's and later 80's , also after 2002 and the emotional aftermath of 9/11 was immense ,
Been trying for years to find out what happens if you loose your book
this needs to be shown right now on ALL news stations -
They won't show it. It's to Pariotic
This needs to be taught in school today, 2019....these snowflake kids today have no idea what this country has endured.
Paul Trekker62
A lot of so-called teachers today are trying to teach the revisionist bull crap versions. As in there were no concentration camps, we started the war etc.
I had to go to my daughter's school and raise hell. The vice principal finished teaching WWII for her class and the teacher made to apologize and say he was wrong..
But I was THE ONLY PARENT to raise hell out of thirty kids in her class alone,!
@@barbaravick5634....Good for you Barbara! These Socialist Liberals are doing nothing short of indoctrination In school today. Brain wash children at an early age so they grow up thinking USA bad...makes me sick.
During the Vietnam War people on the home front were driving their new 69 Dodge Charger to Woodstock NY to get high and watch THE WHO in concert.
You endured that because you were and still are a bunch of morons.
Paul Trekker62 Why did America endure so much everywhere in world.. in Vietnam, in Iraq, Korea, in Afghanistan. None of these countries every attacked mainland. Still hundreds and thousands of young Americans lost life in these countries. Why does America continues to endure so much pain - is something you should ask yourself..
Rationing in the USA was not as harsh as it was in England. Their rationing was really austere. Their rationing did not end after the war, it ended in 1954, nine years after the end of World War Two.
Yeah we had to feed Europe. Look how they treat us now. My Granddad was at Dunkirk and invalided out because of shellshock, I remember him shaking when I was a kid. What did he fight for? Fuck all, this country has been given away. There's parts of this country which look more like Bangladesh than Briton.
Why do you stay? Why not leave and live a better life elsewhere?
Why should I give up my country for state sponsored invasion under the guise of immigration. I fought for this country, as did most of my family, hell even my mother was in the WRAF. I will not be ousted for a backward culture.
Good for you
Not just me, my country too.
Now the question remains, why are people complaining about life being tough in 2018 in America?
Hard times create strong men
Strong men create good times
Good times create soft men
Soft men create hard times
Brian 88 well put.
Joseph Ybarra You are right on with your comment, we who have live in the past two generations do not know what hard times are like. People who went through the Great Depression and WW 2 are the last to experience" Hard Times" and most of them are gone now.
@Newell Orban no they couldnt. home ownership is higher now
Every generation complains that it's tough and the Millennials have been the loudest generation! And my parents day and in my day you worked you didn't get a degree and then move home with Mommy and Daddy. If you couldn't get a job in your field you worked at McDonald's you worked as a janitor for the school system you took whatever was available to make money to live on and do shut your mouth!! The Millennials believe that there should be a free secondary education which means universities for everyone! We are already bankrupt and they are happy to see the country go into more disrepair because they feel they are entitled to whatever it is. They are the most entitled generation thus far. It makes me sick because while I was working on my Nursing degree I pumped gas and I worked as a CNA at a local nursing home because Mommy and Daddy were rich but they weren't going to pay for school entirely along with my living expenses. I ended up going to a school in Cambridge Massachusetts after I had been a nurse for a couple of years and it was a full scholarship it was medical school. All of my time should have been taken up with my studies but I still worked part-time and lived very economically expecting nothing to be handed to me from even my parents who gave me everything on a silver platter until I was 21. They continued to help me but I had to figure out how to keep going back to school on my own. The world owes nobody anything! I'm not sure what happened to the millennials and how they think. Okay I've talked enough. :-)
I was a grade school student in Long Beach CA, during the war. Our house was just two streets up from the beach. My dad's business was war proof. I don't recall anyone ever feeling any sense of want, in spite of rationing. We did eat more fish, but it wasn't a hardship. Unless you had family members serving in the military, life was remarkably normal.
Granny .......rolling a fatty......😂😂😂🍀
Well thanks all who commented I got a history lesson in .Learned a lot
Using more public transportation. Not a bad ideea.
I'm not an anti-car maniac, but around the world there are cities where traffic is a nightmare, that's my problem with automobiles, so don't treat me like I'm one of those people that hates the automobiles because they exist.
Most Americans were team players not everybody but more so than today you can get five people to agree on anyting other than more time off and more money !
May 2020, sounding familiar?
*Anti-Maskers:* "All these pansies giving into communism and weakness by muzzling themselves all over the place! What happened to the greatest generation in America? What would have THEY done?!"
*The Greatest Generation in America:*
It's very ironic that those same people are complaining about how wimpish the libs and the young are in this comment section, meanwhile the way they have full on breakdowns if they are asked to wear a mask in a grocery store shows their spoiled selves would have probably offed themselves if they had to live like the Greatest Generation did for even a couple months, spoiled pampered babies who can't see that they are that.
00:00 - 00:11 - The beginning of steel cans recycling ...
6:03 this make me laugh a little too hard
And all those vehicles in the shape they were in are now worth a lot of money!
great story
please explain, depression for over a decade but when war started had over a zillion dollars to invest
There is always money for "Wars" but not for Healthcare...that's "Socialism" remember?
War bonds. A person bought a bond, and the government promised to pay them back. It often didn't. Despite this the country went into major debt.
The Depression was effectively over by 1938. After that, the economy came roaring back due to pent-up demand -- formerly-poor people hadn't bought much -- and on the strength of production meant for our future Allies in Europe. Britain, esp., signed big contracts for US weapons and industrial goods, and we had secret agreements to intervene against the Axis should a suitable occasion arise. Most Americans could see our involvement in the War coming from 1940 at the latest, even if we remained technically neutral and the German-American Bund and other fascist groups were trying to keep us that way. But the draft was ramped-up a full 18 mos. prior to Pearl Harbor. Model year 1941 was the biggest year for auto sales to date -- people bought anything new that was on wheels, since they knew production of civilian cars would end for the duration. This was all on the model of our plunge in to WWI, 20 years before, when rationing was, if anything, even more strict than during WWII.
Smart
that stove at 4:14 are worth a lot of money today, because they scraped them for iron
My pop pop said he hated gas rationing.
We were pretty energy independent in the early '40. We came to rely on Middle East oil in the late 1950s.
What song is playing in the beginning?
Just look below 👇 The comments were furious about him overusing it. 😂
The song played sounds familiar, what is it?
"In the Mood" Benny Goodman 😉
I don't think I have ever heard the title or the composer. Lordy.
At 8:45 they mention that shoes were rationed to two pairs a year!
I'm still wearing the same pair of shoes I got like 9 years ago
when americans had pride
Shut up boomer
@@iota8491 No, you shut up!!
And, believe you me, I say that with a great deal of pride!!
@@iota8491 F O Coomer
wait, the song in the beginning, is kinda catchy...can I get the name of it
Glenn Miller's "In the Mood"
Mom was SO sugar deprived during WWII. I feelmthat also was part of her demise a few mos ago.
We get it. You don't know any period pieces other than Glenn Miller's In The Mood.
The PR here is pretty thick. The Wealthy still had it good while the other end of town sacrificed
@Kathy Childress KEH?? Are you doing drugs again? The Top end of town are the Thugs that cause ALL the problems , they even START Wars. You Tell Me how someone on $1.25 an hour can FUND a WAR!!?? Start THINKING Seriously.
And this is why an Action Comics № 1 is so scarce.
I am surprised at the width and breadth of rationing, in the USA, during the war. Comparing it with the UK to some degree. But it got much worse as time went on for us.
Today some historians find it fashionable to dismiss the German and Japanese submarine threat as minor and not worth all the anti-submarine efforts. I strongly disagree with those assessments. Lots of cargo ended up at the bottom of the ocean before we figured out how to do effective convoy security. We lost lots of ships due to superior Japanese torpedoes.
The last shot was worth waiting for...keeersplash.
During the Vietnam War people on the home front were driving their new 69 Dodge Charger to Woodstock NY to get high and watch THE WHO in concert.
…and those on the _real_ front got laid by the " Me so horny, me so horny " girls :P
This is nothing compared to what we had in the UK. Since then on both sides of the pond. life has changed so much and for the worse, sad to say. The is no longer any cohesion among the communities and even among neighbours.
'nuf sed.
the mafia prosper from all this
Yup, I've heard stories. Not all of the greatest generations were great. Tractor gas was used to go gallivanting around the countryside, Companies ripped off the government, workers ripped off the companies. There was a war going on and not enough people do investigations.
Mafia was already severely crippled by this point after fdr repealed prohibition. Any rationing back market they made was short lived.
two pairs of shoes a year gotta wait on those yeasys guys
Whats a yeasys? I usually get 1 pair of boots every couple of years.
@@JM-yx1lm Me too. pair of shoes last me 3 years easily. Must of had crappy shoes back then.
7:27. They just don't make accents or slang like they used to.
Watching