Committed to Victory: The Kentucky Home Front during World War II by Richard E. Holl (review)

In his new book, Richard E. Holl offers a comprehensive narrative history of the Kentucky home front during World War II. Organized thematically with chapters focusing on industry, labor, agriculture, politics, race, and culture, the book places the Kentucky story into a broader national context. As a result of the war, Kentuckians, like all Americans, saw their relationship with the federal government fundamentally altered. The armed forces conscripted male residents, defense plants employed scores of men and women, and the Office of Price Administration set prices for retailers and imposed on consumers a ration system for foods and other products vital to the war effort but in short supply. Residents of the Bluegrass State, like Americans elsewhere, volunteered to serve civil defense units, purchased defense bonds, established victory gardens, and participated in scrap drives. At the same time, a significant number of Kentuckians bristled at federal intrusions into daily life. Holl documents the rise of the black market that illegally flouted rationing restrictions, retailers who illegally raised prices, and coal miners who launched one of the few major strikes to take place during the war.

Was World War II a “good war” for Kentucky? Agriculturally, farmers thrived as commodity prices soared, but they struggled to find laborers, especially at harvest time. Industrially, Kentucky lagged behind most other southern states in the share of defense contracts awarded to local businesses. Moreover, most of the defense dollars coming into the state were spent in Louisville and a handful of other communities. Although most state residents enjoyed a modicum of prosperity, the tremendous outmigration from poorer regions indicates how unevenly the gains of the war were distributed. Although some barriers of discrimination in employment fell, opportunities were still circumscribed for black and female workers.

Holl is sensitive to the diverse experiences of Kentuckians during the war, especially those of workers, African Americans, and GIs. The most imaginative chapter explores the lives of those who left the state and migrated to places like Detroit to seek better opportunities. Many migrants yearned for their old Kentucky homes, and when they had the opportunity some returned. Others never came home, but they did not completely abandon their old identities. Many migrants continued to gravitate to other Kentucky transplants socially, continued to embrace bluegrass music, and built Southern Baptist churches in their new communities.

Despite the many strengths of this monograph, there are some disappointments, especially for specialists who focus on World War II and American society. The author says relatively little about debates about preparedness and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s unprecedented efforts to aid Great Britain before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The experiences of conscientious objectors who served in Civilian Public Services camps in Kentucky are not considered. Completely absent is any discussion of how Kentuckians responded to the Holocaust and those seeking refuge in the state, even though Senator Alben W. Barkley publicly spoke out in 1943 for the United States to take action to prevent the extermination of European Jewry. After V-E Day, Barkley served on a congressional delegation that toured the liberated concentration camps.

These limitations do not overshadow Holl’s successful efforts to write a scholarly monograph of Kentucky during World War II that will interest scholars while still being accessible to the general reader. This work belongs on the shelf of every public library in Kentucky, and this reviewer encourages the University Press of Kentucky to market this volume beyond the traditional audience of academic libraries and specialists.