Series 8: Petroleum Administration for War The papers in Series 8: Petroleum Administration for War cover the period 1941-1945 when Jacob Blaustein was appointed to serve as a representative of the petroleum industry to assist in the nation’s efforts to serve the war as well as maintain the home front economy. The Petroleum Administration for War (predecessor agency: Office of Petroleum Coordinator) was one of the wartime government agencies created in accordance with instructions by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S Truman. The agency was created in a letter by President Roosevelt, May 28, 1941, and was responsible for the development and utilization with maximum efficiency of our petroleum resources and our facilities . . . and at reasonable prices to meet military and civilian needs. This agency would prove to be a unique program of government/industry cooperation. Representatives of the petroleum industry were invited to Washington in June 1941 to meet with the new agency’s coordinator, Secretary of Interior, Harold L. Ickes. Oilman who feared a new measure of Federal control were told that all that was wanted of them was cooperation in a growing national defense effort. Partnership was the operative word advanced by Secretary Ickes. The industry organized itself into (1) District Committees; (2) a national body – The Petroleum Industry War Council; (3) and an international group – the Foreign Operations Committee.
In another unique example of government/industry cooperation, the oilmen voluntarily contributed funds to cover the operating expenses of the committees. A formula was agreed upon whereupon refiners, marketers, and transporters contributed $.001018 per 42 gallon barrel (1943 budget period). Blaustein was named by Secretary Ickes to serve in District 1 (Atlantic Seaboard) as a member of the Marketing Committee (established August 1, 1941; broadened to Distribution and Marketing Committee February 10, 1944; terminated August 31, 1945). As a member of the Marketing Committee, Blaustein served on two subcommittees: Joint Use of Marketing Facilities and Rationing. Blaustein was also a member of the Supply and Distribution Committee (authorized February 18, 1942 and dissolved May 1, 1944). Blaustein’s papers that form this series include correspondence, meeting notes and agendas, press articles, recommendations and orders from Washington, statistical reports, allocations and rationing plans, budgets and assessments. Included also are descriptions of J. Blaustein’s talks with committee members and his annotated reports from meetings. The papers related to the Supply and Distribution Committee reveal the very complicated problems of establishing allocations, crude prices, transportation of barges and tankers, the elimination of credit cards, sales adjustments, and taxes. Interestingly, gasoline rationing was planned as early as June 1941, and a fair gas price for the Baltimore area was established at 18.2 cents per gallon. A controversial ruling mandated that stations in the East were to close 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. beginning in August 1941. On October 24, 1945, the Petroleum Industry War Council adopted a report,A Petroleum Policy for the United States, which acknowledged that at the end of the Second World War increasing quantities of oil would be required to meet the needs of the expanding post-war economy. In May 1946, President Truman stated in a letter to Secretary of the Interior Ickes that he had been impressed by the contribution made through industry/government cooperation to the success of the World War II petroleum program. He felt that it would be beneficial if this close relationship were to be continued and suggested that the Secretary of the Interior establish an industry organization to advise the Secretary on oil and natural gas matters. Thus, on June 18, 1946, the National Petroleum Council was established as the peacetime successor to the Petroleum Industry War Council. |
