The WPA helped win the war!

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

Among the many things WPA workers did to bolster America's defenses, and help achieve victory in World War II, was the creation of public information posters.

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

In addition to creating posters that promoted salvaging, WPA workers also performed salvage work themselves. For example, from April 1942 through March 1943, WPA workers salvaged about 376,000 tons of scrap metal and 10,000 tons of scrap rubber. 

(WPA poster, image courtesy of the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.)

   

Many WPA workers, after their stints in the WPA, went on to work in the armed services and defense industries. They worked, and sometimes died, to protect the freedom we have to utilize the things they created. (And today, remarkably, there is no national day of recognition for the 8.5 million WPA workers who improved our infrastructure, built thousands of schools, improved our national defenses, and much, much more.)