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Timeline: 1938-1948
The arsenal of democracy geared up, and its food industry faced the herculean job of producing food...and more food...and still more food in its first worldwide war. The Golden Age of Radio touted the advent of the supermarket....A time of bobby-sox, the jitterbug, big bands, victory gardens, Joe DiMaggio, Edward R. Murrow and Rosie the Riverter.
"Their Finest Hour...."
The grocery industry goes to war. World War II was the "finest hour" for the young grocery industry as it cranked up its massive supply system to feed more than 12 million American soldiers in places scattered around the globe, to fulfill Lend Lease commitments and feed Allied soldiers from the jungles of Burma to Northern Europe, to feed a civilian population plagued by rationing and shortages, and to feed the ravaged populations newly liberated by anti-Axis forces.
Fighting the War With Food
GMA created a special War Committee to deal with the crisis. FDR appointed GMA official Clare Francis (General Foods) in charge of getting all U.S.factories operational. FDR tapped numerous GMA executives to coordinate the nation's food supply by serving in the National Defense Council, the Office of Production Management and the Military Quartermaster. FDR also asked GMA to send a full-time representative to D.C....Toward war's end, GMA executives visited wounded GIs here and abroad to promise jobs once the peace was won.
The New York Times' front page story announced the creation by GMA of a Nutrition Foundation. MIT's President was Chairman, and leading scientists from colleges across America ran the organization. Since 1941, grants were awarded in numerous fields, including projects that have gone on to win Nobel Prizes.
Pure Food, Drug and Cosmetics Act of 1938: GMA's counsel wrote a bill and conducted a series of radio debates with the U.S. Senator/author of a different version of the bill. GMA was pleased with the Act of 1938 and set up a Food/Drug Law Institute to teach food and drug law to U.S. collegiate law schools.
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