Digital Exhibits

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Prior to joining the Commerce Department in 1940, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (USCGS) and the Weather Bureau (now both under NOAA) had robust working relationships with the armed forces, which proved essential to rapidly adapting to the war effort. As a member of the Defense Meteorological Committee, the Weather Bureau developed a weather surveillance network to monitor military operations and produce highly accurate weather reports. These forecasts played an integral role in the Allied powers’ ability to strategize for combat during World War II—including determining the precise timing and conditions for the Allies to invade Normandy’s beaches on D-Day.

A series of executive orders transferred a substantial amount of navigational and surveying equipment including six of USCGS’s nine surveying ships to the Navy. These ships revolutionized map printing techniques and produced navigational charts for military operations. USCGS also assisted in facilitating training exercises and adapting technologies for combat.

IMAGE GALLERY | NOAA

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)

First released for combat in 1944, over 8 million radio proximity fuses, like this one, were produced by the end of the war. The fuses were adapted with variations for rockets, mortar shells, and bombs.
~ Photo Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Archives

Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) developed innovative advancements in science and technology throughout World War II. Scientists formulated munition coatings, tested combat materials, and researched explosives. Additionally, NIST helped launch the synthetic rubber industry to support this hot commodity after imports of natural rubber halted. To address the shortage, the government spent as much funding on the rubber program as it did on research for the atomic bomb.

During the war, the Bureau was tasked with creating an explosive that would detonate a specified distance away from its target. NIST answered with one of the first “smart” weapons—the radio proximity fuse. The fuse, constructed of a radio transmitter and receiver, would detonate over its intended target instead of hitting the ground first, maximizing the ordnance’s impact. Over eight million of these fuses were produced by the end of the war, with variations designed for rockets, mortar shells, and bombs. Accompanying the proximity fuse, NIST helped develop the first fully automated guided missile used in combat—the Bat. Like its nocturnal namesake, the Bat missile responded to radar echoes to navigate and hit enemy targets. The thousand-pound missile was used primarily in the Pacific Theater in 1945, where it became known for its accuracy, long range, and destructive payload.

NIST researchers developed aerodynamic and stabilization systems for the thousand-pound Bat missile, while Bell Telephone Laboratories and MIT collaborated on its guidance program.
~ Photo Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Archives

The Census Bureau

The 1940 Census was conducted shortly before the U.S. entered World War II. New questions such as veteran status, place of residency five years prior, and mother tongue were included in the Bureau’s questionnaire. Statistics gathered from the 1940 Census captured a snapshot of the nation on the eve of World War II.

In 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9157, requiring the Secretary of Commerce to deliver documents to agencies involved in the war effort. The 1940 Census data was subsequently released to the U.S. government and used during the Japanese American internment program following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Consequently, over 110,000 individuals with Japanese ancestry were detained across the U.S.

In 2000, then-Census Director Kenneth Prewitt stated: “The internment of Japanese Americans was a sad, shameful event in American history, for which President Clinton, on behalf of the entire federal government, has forthrightly apologized. The Census Bureau joins in that apology and acknowledges its role in the internment.”

Following World War II, the Census Bureau strengthened its laws concerning privacy and accessibility. The Bureau restricted the public release of annual census records for 72 years and implemented the Title 13 code, which states that census records cannot be shared for nonstatistical reasons, to protect U.S. citizens.

Bureau employees, known as enumerators, conducted the 1940 Census through door-to-door personal visits and manually recording their information.
~ Photo Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA)

To prepare for war, President Roosevelt tasked the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) with determining the feasibility of a large-scale economic mobilization effort and its potential effects on domestic life. Within two months of President Roosevelt’s 1942 budget message—requesting $53 billion for defense, a substantial increase from $1 billion in 1940—the BEA produced the first gross national product (GNP) statistics to measure the nation’s war production capacity in relation to its economy. Though the concept of GNP was not new, World War II provided the policy required to standardize the statistic.

The GNP reports determined that the economic effects of war mobilization on domestic life were less severe than predictions had indicated. It concluded that more funding could be diverted to the war effort. By the mid-1940s, these indicators evolved into a birds-eye view of the national economy. The post-war success of the GNP helped stabilize the highly volatile economic cycle, and provided a timely, comprehensible, and accurate data set on the market.

National Technical Information Service (NTIS)

Previously classified reports deposited at the NTIS contained information on Axis technologies such as high-speed aircraft, chemical munitions, and safety standards used in underground air raid facilities.
~ Photo Source: Library of Congress, Books and Printed Materials

In the early 1940s, scientists initiated a partnership with the U.S. government to offer their knowledge to war-related research. In response, the War Department established organizations to oversee domestic research contracts while agents overseas compiled technical reports on foreign arsenals to send back to scientists on the home front. The scientists used these reports to improve Allied machinery and expand research in fields such as nuclear fission. These technical discoveries persuaded the Allies to gather detailed evidence of enemy technologies for use in post-war industry and the advancement of science. Documents collected included studies of materials used in aircraft fuels, substitutions in the development of synthetic rubber, and ventilation, sanitation and safety standards used in German underground air raid facilities. Throughout the Pacific Theater, similar collection methods were used to assess Japanese scientific and technological advancements.

In 1945, the Publication Board—renamed the NTIS in 1970—was formed as a repository for classified information acquired during and after World War II. In total, over 3.5 billion pages of documents and 300,000 pounds of materials were transferred to the Department of Commerce under NTIS guardianship. Five years later, Congress instructed the Secretary of Commerce to release the collection of technical reports—known as the Publication Board Series—to the general public.

Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)

In 1940, Congress reinstated the Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) ability to impose a secrecy order on patents deemed sensitive to national security—first given during World War I. To protect Allied innovations, the USPTO ordered over 11,000 patent applications into confidentiality throughout World War II. The Bureau safeguarded reports relating to combat inventions and reviewed applications that could benefit the armed forces, such as developments in radar, cryptography, and synthetic materials. To ensure the innovations would not fall into enemy hands, secrecy order violations were punishable by the loss of patent rights, up to two years in prison, and a fine up to $10,000—valued at nearly $190,000 today!

One patent instrumental to the Allies’ success was Andrew Higgins’s shallow-water boat, the “Eureka,” which became known as the “Higgins Boat.” The Higgins Boat possessed a unique hull design that prevented its propellers from sinking into sand during amphibious landings. Higgins’ patented boat expanded options for viable landing sites for amphibious invasions and carried troops into Normandy, North Africa, Italy, Germany, and the Pacific Islands.

Andrew Higgins received U.S. Patent No. 2,144,111 for his “Higgins Boat” landing craft. Later, Higgins filed for patent—U.S. Patent No. 2,341,866—to modify his boats with retractable ramp to quickly offload machinery and personnel.
~ Photo Source: United States Patent and Trademark Office

Office of the Secretary

Secretary Jesse H. Jones, 1941-1944

Jesse H. Jones was nominated as Secretary of Commerce by President Roosevelt in 1940. Refusing to step down as a Federal Loan Administrator, Congress passed special legislation allowing Jones to retain two federal posts simultaneously. During World War II, Secretary Jones authorized the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) to establish federal agencies to accomplish the goals of the war program. Many new organizations, such as the Defense Plant Corporation, Rubber Reserve Company and the Petroleum Reserves Corporation, received over $20 billion dollars for war production. These programs were instrumental in establishing U.S. dominance in industries such as aircraft manufacturing, machine tools, and shipping.

Secretary Henry A. Wallace, 1945-1946

Following Secretary Jones’s resignation in 1944, President Roosevelt named Henry A. Wallace Secretary of Commerce. Secretary Wallace focused on post-war employment, equal pay, foreign trade, and small business in addition to overseeing domestic nuclear power development. Wallace remained Secretary of Commerce after Roosevelt’s death and Truman’s transition into the role of President. However, Wallace feared that Truman’s increasingly confrontational policies towards the Soviet Union would lead to war. These ideological conflicts led to Wallace’s resignation in 1946.

A Lasting Legacy

The Department of Commerce Bureaus’ wartime activities left a legacy of robust advancements across a wide range of disciplines and protections for citizens so that future generations wouldn’t face the injustices Japanese Americans experienced during the war. The Department of Commerce adapted to face the challenges of a nation at war and mobilized to support the research, innovation, and financial programs essential to Allied victory in World War II.

An article from Washington D.C.’s Evening Star highlights the newly installed machine guns on the Herbert C. Hoover Building’s roof to prepare for potential air raids on the capital city.
~ Photo Source: Chronicling America, Library of Congress, Evening Star, December 12, 1941

The USCGS Tide Prediction Machine helped study tides and currents used for coastal navigation. The data allowed the military to determine tidal levels, moonlight illumination, wind speeds, and temperature measurements used for land, sea and aerial operations.
~ Photo Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library

While surveying near Japan, the USCGS Pathfinder was attacked by two planes that caused a fire and one fatality. This was the only injury on the ship, despite witnessing over fifty bombing raids throughout its service.
~ Photo Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library

Since sonar could only function in specific temperature and pressure ranges, the Navy used the torpedo shaped bathythermograph to find strategic pockets of water that would cloak Allied submarines from enemy sonar detection.
~Photo Source: United States Geological Survey Photo Library

Promotional posters advertising the 1940 Census encouraged citizens to participate in the census taking process--and to expect enumerators at their door in the near future!
~ Photo Source: U.S. Census Bureau

NIST scientists helped develop the first continuous time signal service using Quartz crystal clocks, which provided highly accurate time measurements to the armed forces during the war.
~ Photo Source: National Institute of Standards and Technology Digital Archives

Meteorologists urged commanders to delay the D-Day invasion planned for June 4 due to approaching storms. Forecasts for June 6, shown here, indicated a window that would support successful landing conditions and aid the Allies in their amphibious invasion.
~ Photo Source: National Weather Service

The War Department and Weather Bureau issued Chemical Warfare Weather Manuals to study radiation and other chemical agents as they dispersed in the atmosphere.
~ Photo Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Photo Library

This 1944 war bond poster features the Higgins Boat offloading troops and machinery in the background of an ongoing invasion.
~ Photo Source: Bangor Public Library

Synthetic rubber in production in 1942. Wartime initiatives like the government's investement in synthetic rubber research shaped science, industry, and consumer goods long after World War II ended.
~Photo Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

Digital Exhibits researched and developed in coordination with History Associates Incorporated

Digital Exhibits researched and developed in coordination with History Associates Incorporated