Entering the second World War in 1941, the United States found itself with a heavy burden of meeting the demand of materials for the war effort; both its troops and its allies. To maintain supply and demand, the Federal government began implementing a rationing system; one that conserved crucial supplies while redirecting the civilian efforts into assisting the war effort. This local effort became known as The Home Front, the United State’s private battle on its own soil to assist the vicious fighting globally; lasting from their first entry in 1941 to the very end in 1945.

Rationing itself refers to a deliberate and controlled restriction of a material to be accumulated for future purposes. While Europe had been familiar with their fair share of rationing in the past, the second World War was the United States' first official introduction to material limitations. The civilians of the US weren’t unfamiliar with the consequence of inflation; having been in an economic depression for a decade at that point. But it can’t be denied that rationing introduced an element of complexity to an already existing system. Tobin writes that fundamentally, rationing replaces a single currency system with non-monetary values; making rationing a transfer payment. Whereas the great depression was defined by material insecurity, rationing brought back elements of a more traditional system that mirrored bartering; using non-monetary goods or services in place of money.

During this time, rationing was primarily ran by the Office of Price Administration; an agency made by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941 to manage wartime restriction and stabilize prices. However, like most things, there were limitations to the system.A large amount of it centered around discontent with restrictions on supplies; especially after the great depression, causing a pushback in the form of mass buying or stockpiling a large amount of the limited material. This sort of behavior led to shortages early on and would happen repeatedly whenever the OPA would announce a new material that would be rationed. The system itself was based on “points” everyone received in booklet form that they would trade in for high demand supplies. Rationing wasn’t just limited to food; cars, gasoline, and clothing were all valuable commodities that the war front greatly needed.