Production and Price Control in WWII America

By 1941, the United States was pledged to entering the Second World War. Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor in an unprovoked display of aggression intended to cripple the United States navy preemptively and the fascist Third Reich is knocking at the door of Great Britain and turning its sights on the U.S.S.R.

In the U.S. citizens still reeling from the Great Depression found the war, ironically, to be an agent through which the economy and industrial sector could  bounce back, get back on its feet and charge into the future. Automobile manufacturers began building tanks, aircraft and other military vehicles while other public sector factories created ammunition, rations and other military gear such as fatigues and rifles.

So, to allocate materials and regulate production of these products, as well as items such as fuel, Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned, through executive order, the War Production Board in January 1942.

In a speech dated January 6, 1942 President Roosevelt spoke to the American people, telling them of what must be done to attain the final ends of victory in the recently pledged war. He said: "The superiority of the United States in munitions and ships must be . . . so overwhelming that the Axis nations can never hope to catch up with it . . . to attain this overwhelming superiority, the United States must build planes and tanks and guns and ships to the utmost of our national capacity. We have the ability and capacity to produce arms not only for our own armed forces, but also for the armies, navies and air forces fighting on our side. . . This production of ours . . . must be raised far above its present levels, even though it will mean the dislocation of the lives and occupations of millions of our own people. We must raise our sights all along the production line. Let no man say it cannot be done."

And the War Production Board did just that - it raised production, lowered and, eventually, prohibited nonessential productions and created a priority scheme that dictated the distribution of services and materials. Metals, rubber, plastic, gasoline, oils, and so on and so forth were rationed by the board.

The board was disbanded in 1945 following the defeat of the Japanese Imperial Army. Yet throughout its four year lifespan, the board produced some $185 billion in military supplies, both in ordnance and logistical supplies such as medicine, gasoline and fatigues. 

Yet production and allocation were not the sole inhibitors and allocators in the economy of World War II America. Price control also played a pivotal role.  Almost five months prior, in August 1941, the Office of Price Administration opened its doors in an attempt to control prices following the outbreak of the war. This administration was also brought into being via executive order.

"Besides controlling prices, the OPA was also empowered to ration scarce consumer goods in wartime. Tires, automobiles, sugar, gasoline, fuel oil, coffee, meats, and processed foods were ultimately rationed," (Encyclopedia.com). Moreover, the OPA had the ability to instate price ceilings and at the peak of the war some 90% of food stuffs were frozen under rationing - the Office often authorized subsidies for commodity production.

The OPA and all of its affiliates, such as the transference of its abilities to the Office of Temporary Controls, was abolished in 1947. Sections of its control were transferred to differing agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and Reconstruction Finance Corporation for a limited time.

But ultimately, organizations such as the OPA and WPB brought the United States, through WWII, out from the grip of the Great Depression. Increased wartime production brought many jobs to the exorbitant amount of unemployed, kicked started the economy and brought a huge and, as of then, highly unexploited asset to the forefront - women workers: Rosie the Riveter. And, in hindsight, the rationing aided the troops serving in the European and Pacific theaters much needed supplies and morale. 

Here, another agency, the War Manpower Commission, a commission created to bring workers into the production force, one directly related to how and through what means the OPA and WPB functioned, is explained...

Moreover, organizations such as the OPA and WPB have operated off and on continually in war times following WWII - wars such as the Korean and Vietnam wars. Today, in our modern economy, such drastic measures are not necessarily needed as recent conflicts have not been on scale with the production needs found in WWII and following wars. Yet, if the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were to escalate or go on for extremely long periods of time and our current economic situations were to somehow plunge for the worst, similar sanctions and regulations could, in theory, be implemented...