After Pearl Harbor, America endured years of sacrifice in order to contribute to The War Effort.
Scrap-metal drives resulted in tons and tons of metal being recycled into ships, bombs & planes, which Americans were shown on newsreels.
Rationing of gas, sugar, flour, and all sorts of other goods took place; look around in an old bookstore and you’re likely to find a cookbook full of recipes that don’t include flour or sugar or other rationed foodstuffs.
Needless to say, the sacrifice and the “coming together” of the American people undoubtedly helped win WWII.
Is that kind of suck-it-up-for-your country belt-tightening and sacrifice going to be necessary to win this war? Is it even possible?
Yes, it is possible, but some of what you mention probably won’t be necessary. For instance, do you know why Navy ships are put in “graveyards” or why old aircraft are sitting out in the desert? Because if they sold them for scrap metal it would depress the market too much. In other words we have plenty of metal.
Some of the things, such a tires were rationed because cars used tires made from natural rubber. There was a limited amount and so the rationing. That caused the development of synthetic rubber.
Cuba and lots of other countries would love to sell us sugar at cheaper prices.
There were so many things back then that were hard to get that it isn’t possible to relate the two.
Then there is the fact that WWII was a totally different war. This war will be confined to smaller areas and not require the large number of tanks, ships, etc. to be built.
In WWII we started out with practically none of the equipment we needed.
Remember that before Pearl Harbor the American people were dead set against joining the war in Europe. Now we call them the “Greatest Generation”.
I’m twenty-four, and I think our generation will rise to this occasion. My male friends are all planning to enlist if there’s a war. Which is incredibly brave of them considering that they can’t go off in the haze of innocence that previous soldiers were protected by. Now everyone knows that there are worse ways to die than being shot by the enemy. Every time I think of Micah having to fight, I remember a paragraph from a textbook about a battle where thousands of soldiers drowned in the mud of the battlefield. It just makes me want to cry.
Of course people will pitch in and go along with rationing or whatever else is necessary. Our generation has grown up with recycling, I’m sure we’ll be quick to give whatever household metals the country needs. As for rationing, Martha Stewart can show my generation of girls how to cook with whatever food is left. We’ll miss our microwave meals, but no one is going to complain.
As for how long the war will take, well, it would be nice if it could be as quick and bloodless as the Gulf War, but I don’t think any soldiers are going to drop their weapons and demand to go home to their Nintendos after a year or two. We might have enjoyed prosperity, but that doesn’t mean we can’t handle a crisis. I believe that we’ll do just as well as our grandparents did.
During WWII, fear of Japanese sympathizers living among us led to the internment of Japanese citizens. Needless to say, this was an unconscionable injustice against our own people.
Undoubtedly there are sympathizers, terrorists, and terrorists-in-waiting here in the US, waiting to strike. Unless, of course, Operation Noble Eagle scares the shit out of them and they give up. Internment or across-the-board deportation of all persons of Arab decent would be unconscionable. So, what can we do about this aspect of the problem?
BTW, I watched a report on TV that essentially said that, contrary to the Thread title, since the economy will take a bad recessionary hit the citizens should be encouraged, rather than discouraged, to consume. At least for the short term.
Once, my friend and I found this recipe for something called the Depression Cake-it was made with water, and grated apples, cloves and other things. It was sooo good-the only problem was, we grabbed WHOLE cloves instead of ground ones, so it had little pieces of cloves in it…but it was yummy.