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America Needs Your Scrap Rubber

Key Details

Date: 1942

Created By: U.S. Production Board, U.S. G.P.O.

Original or Replica: Replica

Era: The General

Collection: IKEducation

About

Poster: ‘America Needs Your Scrap Rubber’ 72 x 51 cm. During World War II, most of the world’s supply of natural rubber came from rubber tree plantations in Southeast Asia, which were quickly occupied by the Japanese in the first months of 1942. Factories converting to military production needed every scrap of rubber they could find, and citizens were asked to turn in old tires, raincoats, gloves, garden hoses, and rubber shoes for recycling. New tires became almost impossible to buy, and people tell stories of lining the insides of their tires with newspaper to make them last longer.

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