US Domestic wartime cheating

When you mention WW II, most people wax poetic about it being the 'good old days' when everyone pulled together, put aside their differences, and sacrificed for the good of the country.

It is quite true a great many people made great sacrifices during the time for their country. Many people otherwise exempt for the draft none the less volunteered for service. Many gave up their lives or health. Older people gave up highly paid industrial jobs for commissions in the service. On the home front, many people took very tough jobs in war plants, relocating their families and living in crowded conditions.

But in reading domestic wartime history, it is clear that not every citizen was so patriotic. My question: how many weren't so giving?

This is a very sensitive subject and gets people very irritated. People don't like to think we had cheaters in our midst.

Plenty of men applied for draft deferrments. I wonder how many local draft boards loosely interpreted the rules in favor of a connected person? Apparently, there were plenty of inconsistencies where, given two people doing the same job, one person would be declared exempt and the another drafted.

How many people cheated on their rationing, by selling or buying in the black market? How extensive was the black market in foods, gasoline, and rare consumer goods?

How many business people illegally profited from the war by exploiting shortages or special situations in their favor or by selling substandard goods? (US Steel found itself before the Truman Committee for selling bad steel to the Navy for ships

A lot of soldiers were very bored and apathetic and didn't do their jobs very well. For example, many shipments received overseas had to be discarded because they were packed poorly and were broken or spoiled upon receipt.

A lot of soldiers found themselves in isolated and boring locations and had some resentment about it. Many thought other soldiers had more glamorous or comfortable surroundings. This attitude cut into the discharge of their duties.

Part of the problem with poor workmanship was that everything was confidential. Someone would be given a very boring repetitive task and have no idea what it was for or how it would contribute to the war effort. As a result, the person doing it wasn't very motivated (many suspected it was a make-work or unnecessary) and therefore didn't put very much effort into the job.

Unfortunately, security was necessary. For example, the Army may have been planning a big battle at a certain location and ordered supplies appropriate to the climate and situation. If the workers knew the ultimate destination or even an approximate use, they could leak it inadvertently and tip off the enemy.

Physicist Richard Feynman asked for persmission to tell his research staff what they were working on. Until then, his staff were merely crunching numbers by hand. After he was able to tell them, their productivity doubled. Feynman also insisted on telling Oak Ridge officials certain secret technical details in order that they could take appropriate safety precautions. The officials at first didn't want to hear it, but he convinced them they had a need to know.