Following the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the massive American production might was mobilized. After that attack the production of most non-essential consumer goods was halted or curtailed, and manufacturing facilities were converted to war production. A typewriter company produced machine guns, and auto plants produced bombers. Millions worked in these plants, and with so many men in the armed forces 6.5 million women eventually became factory workers. It has been stated, and probably correctly, that without the United States industrial production the war would have been lost. Everyone felt the change as normally abundant consumer goods were rationed. All metals were needed for the production of ships, planes, guns, and ammunition. Gasoline needed to propel all sorts of military equipment was in short supply. Used cooking oils were recycled to make glycerin for explosives.
The disappearance of some color dyes was most evident when the dark green used on Lucky Strike cigarette packaging was changed to white, and the company's ads proclaimed "Lucky Strike Green Has Gone To War". And go to war it did, as it was used to dye millions of Army uniforms OD (olive drab). Never in the history of the world had one nation rallied so fast and produced so much armament so rapidly.
From 1939 to 1945 America produced:
41,000,000,000 rounds of ammunition
36,000,000,000 yards of cotton textiles
303,713 aircraft
211 submarines
2,400,000 military vehicles
100,000 tanks and armored vehicles
27 aircraft carriers · 10 battleships
110 escort carriers
83,000 landing craft
41,000 guns and howitzers
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