Reconsidering the Victory Bike in World War II: Federal Transportation Policy, History, and Bicycle Commuting in America

Abstract

The largest federal intervention in bicycle transportation policy in the 20th century damaged the popularity and prospects of adult cycling in the United States. But in contemporaneous publications and in historical accounts, the World War II “Victory Bike” program has been described positively and fondly, even by bicycle advocates. Using the methodology of the discipline of history, this paper contrasts published literature on the Victory Bike against the unpublished, archival records of the federal government’s Revised Ration Order 7 of July, 1942. A first-ever close analysis of month-by-month rationing demonstrates the deeply restrictive nature of that program, which contradicts both early promises and later accounts. By the end of the war, civilian bicycle production and sales had halted completely, the industry had been decimated, and adult cycling was increasingly associated with wartime sacrifice and deprivation. Recovering this 20th century policy history is a necessary part of understanding American bicycle culture in the 21st, partially explaining the comparative lack of adult bicycle commuting today.