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Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one person's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time. Rationing in the United States was introduced in stages during World War II, with the last of the restrictions ending in June 1947. [1]
World War II put a heavy burden on US supplies of basic materials like food, shoes, metal, paper, and rubber. The Army and Navy were growing, as was the nation’s effort to aid its allies overseas. Civilians still needed these materials for consumer goods as well.
When the United States declared war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States government created a system of rationing, limiting the amount of certain goods that a person could purchase. Supplies such as gasoline, butter, sugar and canned milk were rationed because they needed to be diverted to the war effort.
On the home front during World War II, everyday life across the United States was dramatically altered. Food, gas and clothing were rationed. Communities conducted scrap metal drives and...
In World War I and before the US entered World War II, the government asked people to ration voluntarily.[12] This approach was unsuccessful. Instead, people hoarded products and costs rose, and those without money simply went without needed goods.
Consumer goods now took a back seat to military production as nationwide rationing began almost immediately. In May of 1942, the U.S. Office of Price Administration (OPA) froze prices on practically all everyday goods, starting with sugar and coffee.
Its main responsibility was to place a ceiling on prices of most goods to prevent wartime price gouging, and to limit consumption by rationing. Everyone, including children, was issued a ration book, each of which had a certain number of rationing points per week.