Who was the Secretary of Agriculture responsible for issuing the bread slicing prohibition?
Answer
Claude R. Wickard
The authority behind the implementation of the ban on pre-sliced bread was Claude R. Wickard, who held the dual roles of Secretary of Agriculture and War Food Administrator at the time. Wickard justified the measure by citing the need to conserve critical materials that were being diverted to the global conflict. He suggested that American housewives, already managing complex rationing schedules for numerous other commodities, should accept the minor hardship of manual slicing at home to support the broader national goal of resource conservation. His subsequent reversal of the order was also issued by him, noting that the anticipated material savings did not materialize as expected.
Related Questions
What year did Otto Frederick Rohwedder's commercial bread-slicing vision first reach service?Which specific order enacted the 1943 nationwide ban on pre-sliced bread?Who was the Secretary of Agriculture responsible for issuing the bread slicing prohibition?What secondary market strain resulted from the sudden requirement for home slicing?According to Time magazine, how did U.S. housewives perceive the loss of pre-sliced bread?Which materials, besides wheat/flour costs, were the primary targets for conservation via the ban?What specific competitive disadvantage did Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia's ruling create in the baking industry?Which Indiana Congressman strongly condemned the sliced bread prohibition as 'dictatorial abuse of power'?What major finding led Secretary Wickard to reverse the nationwide ban in early March 1943?By what year had sales of pre-sliced loaves surpassed those of unsliced bread, fundamentally changing American eating habits?