1942.07.23 "All Dressed Up, But..."
by Ralph Lee (1906-1947)
23 x 15 in., ink on board
Coppola Collection
Ralph Lee was an editorial cartoonist for the Portland Oregonian. He died suddenly, at 41, in January 1947. His cousin, Art Bimrose, was the editorial cartoonist for the Oregonian for more than three decades. In 1937, the Oregonian hired him part-time to work on printing plates. Following Lee’s death, Bimrose was hired as the Sunday editorial cartoonist.
By late July 1942, the United States was deeply immersed in WW2, and one significant challenge on the home front was a widespread housing shortage for war workers.
In April, the War Production Board officially halted nearly all private homebuilding and improvements, redirecting lumber, steel, and other materials strictly toward the war effort. This sudden policy shift triggered a dramatic shortage of worker housing.
The fast-growing industrial zones, such as Portland and Detroit, were seeing home shortages so acute that families were doubling up, using tar-paper temporary housing, or sleeping in attics and garages. Headlines described townhouses monopolized by speculators, fire and school services overwhelmed, and production workers commuting hours from tenuous housing.
The Washington Post, July 19, 1942: “Washington Housing in Crisis: Workers Backed Up in Attics, Garages”
The New York Times, July 22, 1942: “War Industry Boom Strains City Homes”
Baltimore Sun, July 21, 1942: “Bleak Prospect: Thousands of Defense Workers Unhoused”
