Ground Truth: Forest Service Research · Episode 6 of 10 · 38 min
How Foresters Built the Allied War Machine
When World War II began, the Forest Service's research labs were redirected to the war effort. The Forest Products Laboratory in Madison turned out wood for aircraft and gliders, while the Emergency Rubber Project planted guayule after Japan cut off most natural rubber supplies. Incarcerated Japanese American scientists at Manzanar played a central part, and the program was scrapped after the war.
Who's who
- Robert Emerson+1 more episodeCaltech biochemist who led the Manzanar guayule project
- Frank Nobuo HirosawaIncarcerated chemist on the Manzanar guayule team
- Masuo KodaniIncarcerated geneticist on the Manzanar team
- Shimpe NishimuraIncarcerated physicist on the Manzanar team
- Kenzie NozakiIncarcerated chemist on the Manzanar team
- Harry S. Truman+14 more episodesOrdered the guayule crops destroyed and project records classified
Where it happens
- Madison, Wisconsin+3 more episodesForest Products Laboratory, flagship wood research lab
- Manzanar, California+2 more episodesIncarceration camp that hosted a guayule research project
- Salinas, California+7 more episodesGuayule crops destroyed after the war
Timeline
- September 1941Secretary of War asks the Forest Products Laboratory to advise on packaging
- December 1941Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters the war
- March 1942Congress authorizes the Emergency Rubber Project
- April 1942Manzanar Guayule Project begins
- 1944Guayule acreage peaks near 32,000 acres
- 1945War ends; synthetic rubber makes guayule uneconomical
Still debated
It is unclear whether guayule was a wise wartime hedge or a costly dead end, and the reasons Truman ordered records classified are not fully transparent. Credit for the Manzanar science is increasingly given to the incarcerated scientists.
← PreviousFDR's Thousand-Mile Tree Wall: The Dust Bowl ShelterbeltNext →How Decades of Monitoring Saved American Forests
Connected episodes in other series
The HandsSalad Bowl of the World · Episode 10Also features Robert Emerson
The Good War's Fine Print: The WWII Draft's Forgotten LosersGreeting: America and the Draft · Episode 5Also features Harry S. Truman
Why Iran Once Trusted America: Oil, Empire & Mosaddegh's RiseIran & America: A Century and Counting · Episode 1Also features Harry S. Truman
Forced Out: Japanese American Incarceration and the War's Mirror ImageLiberty Ships, Closed Doors · Episode 7