Excerpt from "Washington and the Home Front"

Written by Anthony F. Merrill.

Published in House and Garden, March 1942.

"Your home is a vital unit in the machinery of American democracy and defense morale."

Women on the home front were expected to sew most of their own clothes, grow their own vegetables in backyard victory gardens, and plan nutritious meals despite food shortages and a strict rationing system. Advice on how to accomplish these goals appeared regularly in women's magazines, and historical accounts of wartime sacrifices and ingenuity on the home front generally focus on women's activities. However, between thirty million and forty million American men also contributed on the home front, working in all capacities as part of the U.S. labor force. Those men were also responsible for household duties such as home and car maintenance. Fulfilling such duties required...