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Threading America · Study guide · Chapter 15

Synthetic Warfare

Nylon and the WWII Pivot · 1940–1950

Name

Class

Date

Guiding question

When World War II turned nylon from a luxury into a strategic material, who gained and who paid?

Part 1Before you read

  1. Read the guiding question. Write down what you already know, or think you know, about it.
  2. Predict one way your answer might change after reading the sources.

Part 2Read

World War II pushed the American textile industry from a natural-fiber economy toward a chemical one. Nylon went from stockings to parachutes; the American mill became a front in the war effort and emerged as a foundation of postwar consumer culture.

When the United States froze Japanese assets in the summer of 1941, imports of Japanese silk—the raw material of American hosiery and parachutes—stopped, making synthetic fibers a matter of national security. DuPont's nylon, introduced in women's stockings in 1939–40, was allocated to military use from 1942 and went into parachutes, ropes, tents, mosquito netting, and aircraft tire cord. Cotton mills produced vast quantities of duck, twill, and uniform cloth. The industry that emerged from the war was larger, more chemically sophisticated, and more politically connected than its predecessors—and within a few years it would redirect that wartime technology into the American closet.

Nylon stockings. DuPont put nylon hosiery on national sale on May 15, 1940-"N-Day."
Nylon stockings. DuPont put nylon hosiery on national sale on May 15, 1940-"N-Day." Antique Rose, "Nylon stockings" (2006). English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part 3Timeline

For each event, write one sentence on why it mattered.

  1. 1935

    Nylon Synthesized

    In February, Wallace Hume Carothers's team at DuPont's Experimental Station produces the polyamide later named nylon.

  2. 1940

    Nylon Day

    In mid-May, about four million pairs of nylon stockings reach stores nationwide at about $1.15 a pair and sell out within days.

  3. 1942

    The War Pivot

    Nylon and silk are reserved for military uses such as parachutes, tire cord, and rope; civilian stockings all but disappear.

  4. 1946

    The Nylon Riots

    Postwar shortages bring enormous lines and scuffles; in Pittsburgh on June 12, an estimated 30,000–40,000 women queue for 10,000–13,000 pairs.

Part 4Key terms

Write the letter of the matching definition beside each term.

  1. Polymer
  2. Polyamide
  3. War Production Board
  4. Rationing
  5. Black market
  1. A.The federal agency that controlled raw materials and factory production in the United States during World War II.
  2. B.Illegal buying and selling of goods, often scarce or rationed ones, outside official rules.
  3. C.A large molecule made of many small repeating units linked in a chain; nylon and polyester are polymers.
  4. D.Government limits on how much of a scarce product people or businesses may buy or use.
  5. E.The chemical family of polymers that includes nylon, linked by amide bonds.

Part 5Primary source workshop

These excerpts are quoted word for word, including the spelling and language of their time.

Document A

U.S. Patent No. 2,130,948: Synthetic Fiber

Wallace H. Carothers, assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, September 20, 1938

This invention relates to new compositions of matter, and more particularly to synthetic linear condensation polyamides and to filaments, fibers, yarns, fabrics, and the like prepared therefrom. This invention has as an object the preparation of new and valuable compositions of matter, particularly synthetic fiber-forming materials. Another object is the preparation of filaments, fibers, and ribbons from these materials. A further object is the manufacture of yarns, fabrics, and the like from said filaments.

Context: Carothers led the DuPont research team that invented nylon; this patent, granted after his death in 1937, covered nylon fibers. Within four years nearly all nylon production was diverted from stockings to parachutes, tow ropes, and other military uses.

Source: Wallace H. Carothers. US2130948A: Synthetic fiber. United States Patent Office (via Google Patents). 1938. https://patents.google.com/patent/US2130948A/en

Historical context
What was happening when and where this was created?
Intended audience
Who was meant to read, hear, or see it?
Purpose
Why was it created? What did its creator want to happen?
Point of view
Whose perspective does it show, and whose is missing?

Document B

United States v. Schautz (quoting War Production Board Orders M-356 and L-274)

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, 1946

General Conservation Order M-356, which provides in its pertinent part as follows: (b) (1) "No person shall sell or deliver nylon except as specifically authorized in writing by the War Production Board." (b) (2) "No person shall knowingly purchase, accept delivery or commercially use nylon contrary to any restriction of the War Production Board." and General Limitation Order L-274, which in part reads as follows: (c) (1) "On and after May 15, 1943, no person shall put into production women's full-fashioned plain-knit hosiery, women's seamless, circular-knit hosiery, men's hosiery, or misses', children's or infants' hosiery except in accordance with Schedules A, B, C, and D ..."

Context: This federal court decision involved charges of illegally diverting nylon yarn during the war. The wartime orders it quotes show how tightly the government controlled synthetic fiber and how valuable nylon became on the black market.

Source: United States v. Schautz. CourtListener, Free Law Project. 1946. https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/8903609/united-states-v-schautz/

Historical context
What was happening when and where this was created?
Intended audience
Who was meant to read, hear, or see it?
Purpose
Why was it created? What did its creator want to happen?
Point of view
Whose perspective does it show, and whose is missing?

Corroborate

Compare "U.S. Patent No. 2,130,948: Synthetic Fiber" (Wallace H. Carothers, assignor to E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, September 20, 1938) with "United States v. Schautz (quoting War Production Board Orders M-356 and L-274)" (U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, 1946). Where do they agree, where do they differ, and what might explain the differences?

Part 6Discuss

  1. What does Carothers's patent list as its "objects," and what properties of the new fiber does it highlight?
  2. A patent is written to secure a company's legal rights. What does this patent reveal, and what does it conceal, about DuPont's plans for nylon?
  3. The War Production Board banned selling nylon without written permission. Why would the government control a stocking fiber, and what does the Schautz case suggest about black markets during the war?
  4. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government used the Defense Production Act to direct production of masks and protective gear. Should government have the power to take control of civilian materials in a crisis? Compare with 1942–1945.

Part 7Write: claim, evidence, reasoning

Answer the guiding question in one paragraph, using the documents and the reading.

Paragraph checklist
ClaimAnswers the guiding question directly in one or two sentences.
EvidenceCites at least two primary sources by name and at least one fact from the reading.
ReasoningExplains how each piece of evidence supports the claim.
SourcingNotes at least one limitation of a source: who made it, when, and why.

Part 8Exit ticket

  1. In one sentence, how would you answer the guiding question now?
  2. What piece of evidence would most change your mind?

Keep exploring

  • Material Culture

    The Nylon Riots

    When stockings were worth standing in line all day.

    https://www.threadingamerica.com/topics/nylon-riots

  • Biography

    Wallace Carothers, Inventor of Nylon

    The brilliant chemist who did not live to see his invention reach the public.

    https://www.threadingamerica.com/topics/wallace-carothers

  • Material Culture

    Rosie's Coveralls and the Cotton Duck Mills

    American mills as a logistical front in the war.

    https://www.threadingamerica.com/topics/rosie-and-cotton-duck