Victory Gardens

The campaign to encourage Victory Gardens was probably the most successful home front effort waged by the U.S. government during World War II. Victory Gardens were originally intended to supplement the food produced by commercial growers in order to prevent shortages around the country. They became important morale-building and unifying weapons as well, providing emotional support for many Americans, who felt that their participation in the Victory Gardens program helped the country's war effort. Victory Gardens were so successful in supplementing the country's food supply that by 1945 American per capita consumption of fresh vegetables and vitamin C reached its all-time high.

Victory Gardens had their roots in World War I. By the time the United States entered the war in April 1917, government officials had studied how European countries mobilized their nations for war. Preferring voluntary compliance to regulation, as many of the European nations did, the federal government asked citizens to conserve food and to plant gardens to produce as much of their own food as possible. Known as War Gardens, these plots sprang up everywhere and were regarded as testaments to patriotism. Talks by the Committee on Public Information's Four-Minute Men promoted War Gardens to audiences around the country. The National War Garden Commission prepared publications with instructions on planting and caring for vegetable gardens. When World War I ended, the Commission continued to call for individual gardens to meet peacetime needs. After the armistice, the name given to these plots was changed to Victory Gardens. The return of peace, however, led to the virtual disappearance of Victory Gardens by 1920.

[Page 874]During the Great Depression, various governmental bodies called on citizens to return to the World War I tradition in creating gardens to feed the needy. Peacetime Victory Gardens, however, failed to catch on, possibly because many who needed the food lacked money for seeds and gardening tools.

The beginning of World War II, however, saw the resurrection of the Victory Garden program. Before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States was supplying food to Great Britain and the Soviet Union. After the United States entered the war, many farm laborers were called into the armed forces. Hence, the demand for food increased, while the labor supply declined. The Department of Agriculture took the lead in calling for individual Americans to plant Victory Gardens to make up for shortfalls in production. Because most foods were rationed during the war, Victory Gardens were also a means of supplementing American diets.

In December 1941, Secretary of Agriculture Claude Wickard arranged a National Defense Garden Conference in Washington, D.C. Representatives of gardening organizations, seed companies, the agricultural press, and other organizations met to discuss how to encourage Victory Gardens. The program they soon developed proved to be very successful. Its goals were defined as increasing the production and consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits, encouraging the preservation of surplus vegetables and fruits by individual families, allowing families to save money by not having to purchase produce, providing opportunities for urban dwellers to garden, and maintaining the morale and spiritual well-being of the nation.

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