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the participation and awareness of today’s citizens in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
“Our government is afraid to challenge us, (afraid) of not getting re-elected, of getting
people angry,” said Rondinella, adding that he hopes the movie pushes more Americans
to become engaged in civic life.
Americans needed to be coaxed into action in 1942, he notes. As the nation’s factories
went into overdrive to support the war effort, federal officials in Washington pleaded with
citizens to collect and donate their metal junk. Few paid attention until the editor of the
Omaha newspaper came up with the idea of a contest. Omaha’s railroads quickly got
behind the effort, and the World-Herald published daily stories encouraging participation.
The newspaper’s front page featured a daily tally, not unlike baseball box scores,
of each county’s collection and per capita total. For three weeks, every Nebraska business,
parent and child was swept up in the scrap metal craze.
“It was insane. It was inspiring,” said Rondinella, noting that Nebraska farmers
would work a full day in their fields and then scavenge the ditches at night. After the
9/11 attacks, “Our government told us to go out shopping. We don’t do anything today.
I think politicians are afraid to ask.”
Everyone was involved. Omaha movie theaters offered children free admission for
five pounds of scrap, attracting 12,000 kids and tons of salvage in one day. Baseball
teams played games for scrap, couples held parties for scrap-bearing guests. A 6-year-old
boy gave his tricycle to the campaign, while enthusiastic teenagers began dismantling
a farmer’s working windmill before he drove them off.
Melba Glock was a little girl when she and her cousin used a giant magnet they had
S E T O N H A L L M A G A Z I N E | F A L L 2 0 1 1
Nebraska First: In 1942, the Omaha
World-Herald launched the Nebraska
Scrap Drive, a citizen campaign to
collect metal for the war effort that
eventually went nationwide.
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