Supplying New Demands and Finding New Sources for Oil

Oil Czar.

During World War II the United States supplied the Allies with the bulk of the oil needed to fight the war, and oil was one of the most important strategic resources of the war. During the war U.S. secretary of the interior Harold Ickes also assumed the position of director of the Petroleum Administration for War, thus becoming an oil czar with unprecedented power over the oil industry. He increased domestic production and rationing civilian use of gasoline and other oil products to meet war needs. During the war American leaders in both the public and private sectors redefined the importance of oil and of overseas oil fields, particularly those in the Middle East.

Running Out of Oil.

In the December 1943 American Magazine Ickes published an article titled "We're Running Out of Oil!" In it he expressed concern about the rapid depletion of America's oil reserves, writing that the "law of diminishing...

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