Rationing During the Second World War
By Cody Berry
After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the United States found itself fighting a war on both sides of the globe simultaneously. The US government created a system of rationing, which limited the amount of certain goods that a person or family could buy. Food items such as butter, sugar, and canned milk were rationed as was gasoline and rubber for tires. War interrupted trade from overseas. The Japanese at the time controlled the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) from March 1942 to September 1945, which created a shortage of rubber. On August 28, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of Price Administration (OPA).1
The OPA placed a price ceiling on goods that were to be rationed during the war. The first ration cards went out in May 1942. Americans could use these to buy items in stores. Ration cards, and eventually ration books, contained stamps which could be exchanged for cars, tires, gasoline, coal, firewood, food items, nylon, silk, shoes, and cooking ingredients.2 Nearly everything that was needed to survive the war and to fight it abroad was rationed then.
In our current exhibit My Country Called, which was inspired by Arnold Wright’s book of the same name, we have a rationing book and a ration card from 1942-43 on display. The rationing book in our display has a red, white, and blue cover with a large “V” on it inside a circle of stars. It once belonged to Mrs. Ralph Jennings of 509 West Conway in Benton.
The book acted as a wallet for ration cards and a place to advertise local businesses on the pages. One advertisement on the inside cover is for Pennington’s Grocery store, who had locations in Pine Haven and in Benton. On the back cover of each card is a reminder to save tin cans and waste fats, which according to the advertisement were needed to make munitions.
Citations:
1 National Park Service, “Sacrificing for the Common Good: Rationing in WWII,” National Park Service.gov, https://www.nps.gov/articles/rationing-in-wwii.htm, Date Accessed 9/23/2025.
2 National Park Service, “Sacrificing for the Common Good: Rationing in WWII,” National Park Service.gov, https://www.nps.gov/articles/rationing-in-wwii.htm, Date Accessed 9/23/2025.