Dr. Jerry Sanson
Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum
Louisiana residents looked forward hopefully to the end of World War II between Germany’ surrender on 6 May 1945 (Louisiana time), and Japan’s surrender on 15 August. Many of them thought about the consumer goods that would be available once again when the conflict was over. The New Orleans Item newspaper conducted an informal poll of a dozen random people on streets in the city in August 1945 asking what they would purchase for dinner when wartime rationing ended. Eight people replied “steak,” two replied “meat of any type,” and one each replied “vegetables” and “chicken.” A Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce poll of twenty-six hundred persons asked, “What will be your first purchase after the war when there are plenty of things to buy?” Replies reflected the pent-up demand for consumer goods: electric washing machine was the most popular answer followed by automobile, electric iron, kitchen stove, electric refrigerator, radio, furniture, furnace, electric mixer, and food freezer.
The government confirmed rumors of peace sweeping through the state about 6:00 pm on August 15. New Orleans experienced the largest festivities since Carnival 1941. Confetti piled about six inches deep on some streets. Baton Rouge residents jammed Third Street downtown within minutes of the announcement. Governor James H. “Jimmie” Davis quickly announced a two-day state holiday. Shreveport celebrated with closed stores and offices and loud, joyful noise. Alexandria business district streets filled with celebrants minutes after the announcement. The Town Talk newspaper reported comments randomly heard on the streets: “Thank God, it’s done”; “How soon do you think my husband will come home?”; “Oh, gee”; “I’m going to cry”; “Praise the Lord that it’s over’”; and most poignantly, “I wish my son could have lived to see this day.”
The federal government announced the end of gasoline rationing a few hours after the Japanese surrender and initiated another round of celebration on August 16. Motorists shared the delight of one Baton Rouge resident who reported, “I immediately drove my car to the gas station and said, ‘fill it up,’ something I haven’t been able to do for a long time. I hope I never need those gas coupons again.” One Baton Rouge filling station, which had sold about one thousand gallons of fuel per day during rationing, sold about six thousand gallons the day rationing ended. The president of the New Orleans Service Station Association commented that “Everybody said ‘fill ‘er up,’ just for the pleasure of saying it.”
Many Louisianians celebrated Labor Day 1945, the first peacetime holiday since Thanksgiving 1941, with short automobile trips fueled by unrationed gasoline. The telephone company assured Baton Rouge residents that new telephones were on the way to fill the backlog of orders. Scarce china, silver, and crystal reappeared on store shelves and met a brisk demand. One New Orleans jeweler explained that while “victory brides” caused some demand, established customers “are replenishing their stocks or changing their china and silver patterns. They’ve had to do without fine things for so long.” Floor samples of Frigidaire electric refrigerators appeared on October 31. Customers could only place orders, but stores promised delivery “as soon as Frigidaires are available.” Orders for new trucks numbered about four hundred for each one brought into the state.
Some economic planners worried during the war that cancellation of government contracts and orders when the war ended would lead to a return of the Great Depression. Sentiment among Louisiana consumers indicated that they need not have worried. Louisiana residents, like Americans across the country, indicated that they were ready to buy as soon as factories returned to civilian production, and relatively high wartime wages on the home front had given them the money to shop.
