"World War II is the biggest fact in the Iowa farm situation. Though Iowa is far removed from air bombing and submarine torpedoing, it is on the battle front so far as economic and social effects of the war are concerned. Iowa's commercial agriculture underwent terrific strain during and following World War I, and the pressures arising out of World War II promise to be similar, although less severe. It is the purpose of this report to estimate what some of these pressures will be. An understanding of the social and economic forces at work is necessary before plans can be made and action taken to ease the shock of the war. The experience of the earlier war helps us to understand these forces, but that experience must be interpreted in light of the changed situation today."--Page [51].
As Americans geared up for World War II, each state responded according to its economy and circumstances—as well as the disposition of its citizens. This book considers the war years in Iowa by looking at activity on different home fronts and analyzing the resilience of Iowans in answering the call to support the war effort. With its location in the center of the country, far from potentially threatened coasts, Iowa was also the center of American isolationism—historically Republican and resistant to involvement in another European war. Yet Iowans were quick to step up, and Lisa Ossian draws on historical archives as well as on artifacts of popular culture to record the rhetoric and emotion of their support. Ossian shows how Iowans quickly moved from skepticism to overwhelming enthusiasm for the war and answered the call on four fronts: farms, factories, communities, and kitchens. Iowa’s farmers faced labor and machinery shortages, yet produced record amounts of crops and animals—even at the expense of valuable topsoil. Ordnance plants turned out bombs and machine gun bullets. Meanwhile, communities supported war bond and scrap drives, while housewives coped with rationing, raised Victory gardens, and turned to home canning. The Home Fronts of Iowa, 1939–1945 depicts real people and their concerns, showing the price paid in physical and mental exhaustion and notes the heavy toll exacted on Iowa’s sons who fell in battle. Ossian also considers the relevance of such issues as race, class, and gender—particularly the role of women on the home front and the recruitment of both women and blacks for factory work—taking into account a prevalent suspicion of ethnic groups by the state’s largely homogeneous population. The fact that Iowans could become loyal citizen soldiers—forming an Industrial and Defense Commission even before Pearl Harbor—speaks not only to the patriotism of these sturdy midwesterners but also to the overall resilience of Americans. In unraveling how Iowans could so overwhelmingly support the war, Ossian digs deep into history to show us the power of emotion—and to help us better understand why World War II is consistently remembered as “the Good War.”
Explores the challenges faced by an Iowa family and community after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, as most men go off to war and those who remain support the war effort as best they can.
The Schaub family purchased a farm in northwest Iowa in the mid 1930s. The worst of the Great Depression was ebbing, but the bad economy still had plenty of bite and a world war loomed. Werner and his wife, Laura, mustered all the money they could to buy their own place; once they had it, they did everything they could to make a living. Their children chipped in, but they also managed to find adventure around every corner. Meanwhile, a tempestuous Mother Nature complicated their lives with violent winds and black dust storms. The church, generally a rock of support for the community, became unbending at times. World War II improved grain markets but took many sons away from the farms. The Schaub family stuck together, but financial insecurity lurked in the shadows. Getting land, paying for it, and making a living were tough in the Dust Bowl in the 1930s. Even so, the Schaubs never gave up as they tried to find the good life Between the Corn Rows.
Relates the experiences of the Schaub family during the 1930s in Iowa, describing the challenges they faced trying to keep their farm during the Dust Bowl, Depression, and World War II.
