Scrap metal drives
Contribute your fence to the national defense
Alex Q. Arbuckle
1942
When the United States joined World War II after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the global trade of raw materials was in a state of uncertainty and disruption. Basic commodities such as rubber and cloth immediately became precious and valuable to the war effort. Scrap drives were organized across the country, encouraging citizens to contribute their rubber to make jeep tires, their clothing to make cleaning rags, their nylon and silk stockings to make parachutes, and their leftover cooking fat to make explosives. One of the most vital materials to collect was scrap metal. A single medium tank required 18 tons of it, and a single Navy ship hundreds more. Scrap metal drives became competitive, almost frenzied affairs, as communities vied to out-contribute each other. Housewives threw in their aluminum pots and pans, farmers sacrificed their old tractors, and cities and towns ripped up wrought iron fences, trolley tracks and historic Civil War cannons.People were encouraged to imagine their household items being transformed into armor and weaponry for their soldiers and sailors in harm’s way. In Lubbock, Texas, a bust of Hitler was erected as a target for patriotic citizens to hurl their cookware. Walt Disney donated two iron Bambi sculptures, which were said to contain enough iron for 10,000 incendiary bombs or one 75-millimeter artillery piece.Ultimately, the effect of these scrap metal drives on actual war production was marginal at best. Their true value was in galvanizing citizen morale and a sense of patriotic unity, and making everyone feel a part of the war effort.
Steel cannot be made without scrap. It is as impossible to make steel without scrap iron as it is to make biscuits without flour, or to make an ice cream soda without ice cream. - Kentucky Governor Keen Johnson, Oct. 2, 1942
Our soldiers are men of valor and fortitude but this is a war in which raw courage is no match for cold steel. Modern warfare is highly mechanized. Thousands of our finest youth will be slaughtered if we send them into battle without tanks and planes and guns that our superiors to the arms of our foe. We must have 17 million tons of scrap iron in order to keep the steel mills running at full capacity through the winter. - Kentucky Governor Keen Johnson, Oct. 2, 1942
