US price control poster depicting a grocer pointing to a pledge

This poster is part of the price control program established by the Office of Price Administration in the US during World War II. The man is pointing to a Make This Pledge poster which was distributed by the OPA in 1943. The OPA was formed on August 28, 1941 by President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8875. After the passage of the Emergency Price Control Act on January 30, 1942, the OPA tried to counteract the rising prices of food and commodities by introducing rationing and fixing price ceilings on goods. The combination of shipping food and commodities to our troops and allies and the high priority placed on military goods left a scarcity of supplies on the US home front. The OPA developed a local board system in every county and almost every city and town in the US to administer price control and rationing. Price panel assistants would visit local stores to make sure that prices were adjusted accordingly, and report those that were not. Despite OPA’s price ceilings, prices for some food items continued to rise until April 8, 1943 when President Roosevelt signed his Hold the Line order, Executive Order 9328, which stopped all rising prices for food. Price control continued until November 9, 1946 when President Truman signed an executive order ending all wage and price controls except on rents, sugar, and rice.