View source for Finance:Office of Price Administration

{{Short description|Former US federal government agency}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name     = Office of Price Administration
| type            = 
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| nativename_r    = 
| logo            = 
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| picture         = "Help Your OPA Fight Inflation" - NARA - 514468.jpg
| picture_width   = 250px
| picture_caption = An OPA poster
| formed          = {{Start date|1941|08|28}}
| preceding1      = Council of National Defense (World War I)<ref name=forge/>
| preceding2      = 
<!-- (etc.) -->
| dissolved       = {{End date|1947|05|29}}
| superseding1    = 1942 siblings: Office of Economic Stabilization, Office of Production Management
| parent_agency   = Office for Emergency Management
| superseding2    = liquidated in 1947 to Agriculture, Justice, Commerce, RFC and others
| superseding3    = Similar functions later performed by [[Finance:Office of Price Stabilization|Office of Price Stabilization (Korean War-era price board)]]
| superseding4    = Council of Economic Advisors (Kennedy-era price board)<ref name=wagecontrolenc>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/economics-business-and-labor/economics-terms-and-concepts/wage-and-price-controls|title=Wage And Price Controls &#124; Encyclopedia.com|website=www.encyclopedia.com|accessdate=3 June 2023}}</ref>
| superseding5    = [[Finance:Pay Board and Price Commission|Pay Board and Price Commission (Nixon-era price board)]]<ref name=wagecontrolenc/>
| jurisdiction    = United States Government
| headquarters    = [[Place:Washington, D.C.|Washington, D.C.]]
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| deputyminister1_name = 
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| deputyminister2_name = 
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| chief1_name     = Leon Henderson
| chief1_position = 1941–1942
| chief2_name     = Prentiss Marsh Brown
| chief2_position = 1943
| chief3_name     = Chester Bliss Bowles
| chief3_position = 1943–1946
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}}

The '''Office of Price Administration''' ('''OPA''') was established within the Office for Emergency Management of the United States government by Executive Order 8875 on August 28, 1941. The functions of the OPA were originally to control money (price controls) and rents after the outbreak of [[Social:World War II|World War II]].<ref>{{cite video
 | year =1941
 | title =Video: Baby Bonds For Defense, 1941/04/17 (1941)
 | url =https://archive.org/details/1941-04-17_Baby_Bonds_For_Defense
 | publisher =Universal Newsreel
 | access-date =February 20, 2012
}}</ref>

==History==
President Franklin D. Roosevelt inaugurated the Council of National Defense Advisory Commission on May 29, 1940,<ref>Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II'', pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nKcFfGk-WH4C&pg=PA69 69–71], Random House, New York, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}.</ref> to include Price Stabilization and Consumer Protection Divisions. Both divisions merged to become the Office of Price Administration and Civilian Supply (OPACS) within the Office for Emergency Management by Executive Order 8734, on April 11, 1941. Civil supply functions were transferred to the Office of Production Management.<ref name=forge>Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II'', pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nKcFfGk-WH4C&pg=PA127 127], [https://books.google.com/books?id=nKcFfGk-WH4C&pg=PA137 137–139], Random House, New York, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}.</ref>

It became an independent agency under the [[Finance:Emergency Price Control Act of 1942|Emergency Price Control Act]], January 30, 1942. The OPA had the power to place ceilings on all prices except agricultural [[Finance:Commodity|commodities]], and to ration scarce supplies of other items, including tires, automobiles, shoes, nylon, sugar, gasoline, fuel oil, coffee, meats and processed foods. At the peak, almost 90% of retail [[Finance:Food prices|food prices]] were frozen. It could also authorize subsidies for production of some of those commodities.<ref>Herman, Arthur. ''Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II'', pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nKcFfGk-WH4C&pg=PA157 153], [https://books.google.com/books?id=nKcFfGk-WH4C&pg=PA162 162–165], [https://books.google.com/books?id=nKcFfGk-WH4C&pg=PA171 171], Random House, New York, 2012. {{ISBN|978-1-4000-6964-4}}.</ref>

=== Dissolution ===
As early as 1944, in its annual debate about price control extension, Congress discussed limiting the power of the OPA as World War II drew to a close and the necessity of price controls was called into question. While some argued for the continuation of price controls to hold post war inflation in check, there was widespread support among conservatives and businessmen for the rapid deregulation of the economy as it reconverted to a civilian footing.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Bartels|first=Andrew H.|date=July 1983|title=The Office of Price Administration and the Legacy of the New Deal, 1939–1946|journal=The Public Historian|volume=5|issue=3|pages=5–29|doi=10.2307/3377026|jstor=3377026|issn=0272-3433}}</ref> Groups such as the [[Organization:National Association of Manufacturers|National Association of Manufacturers]] and the National Retail Dry Good Association sought to guarantee companies a minimum amount of profits, thereby effectively limiting the price control measures.<ref name=":0" /> However, the OPA still enjoyed widespread popular support and the agency was renewed in 1944 and again in 1945.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Cohen, Lizabeth.|title=Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America |date=2008|publisher=Random House US|isbn=978-0-375-70737-7|oclc=1031966746}}</ref> While these renewals were considerable successes for many consumer advocacy groups, they also marked the height of the OPA, from which the agency's power and popularity would decline in the next two years.<ref name=":0" />

By June 1946, significant opposition by NAM and NRDA had been mounted to sway Congress, which, only two days before the existing legislation was set to expire, passed a bill that would have left the OPA a much-weakened version of its past self.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> President Harry S. Truman vetoed this bill in hopes of forcing Congress to create a stronger one, but as the month of June came to an end, the OPA shut down, and its price and rent controls went with it.<ref name=":1" /> The result was a sharp jump in prices, with food increasing by 14 percent and the cost of overall living rising by 6 percent, an equivalent to more than 100 percent per year.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Consumers all over the nation turned out in varying numbers to protest these increases, with labor unions forming a major part of the participants.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

By the end of July, Congress had reversed course and passed legislation reinstating the OPA and price controls, though this bill was no stronger than what President Truman had vetoed earlier.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> This much-weakened version of the OPA did not last long, as meat packers launched their own form of protest against the agency, slowing slaughtering rates and withholding meat from market.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> The resulting widespread shortages did much to damage the public faith in the OPA, which was now seen as ineffective, and the Democrat-led Congress.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> When faced with the choices of higher prices or no meat, the consumers chose the latter. Although President Truman ended price controls on meat, on October 14, just two weeks before the election, in a rejection of price controls and as a sign of the changing attitude of the American public towards a control-free re-conversion, many Democratic incumbents were defeated, and Republicans gained control of Congress.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Following this defeat, Truman lifted almost all price and wage controls and, while the OPA was authorized to exist through June 30, 1947, its range of tasks and ability to effectively regulate prices was curtailed severely, being reduced to rent control and some price control over a very limited number of goods.<ref name=":1" /> Most functions of the OPA were transferred to the newly established Office of Temporary Controls (OTC) by Executive Order 9809, December 12, 1946. The Financial Reporting Division was transferred to the Federal Trade Commission. By the end of December 1946, many of OPA's local offices and price boards were closed, and the OPA did not survive until its authorized June 30 extension.<ref name=":1" />

The OPA was abolished effective May 29, 1947 by the General Liquidation Order, issued March 14, 1947, by the OPA Administrator.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/188.html|title=Records of the Office of Price Administration [OPA]|date=2016-08-15|website=National Archives|language=en|access-date=2020-04-25}}</ref> Some of its functions were taken up by successor agencies:
* Sugar and sugar products distribution by the Sugar Rationing Administration in the Department of Agriculture pursuant to the Sugar Control Extension Act (61 Stat. 36), March 31, 1947
* Price controls over rice by the Department of Agriculture by Executive Order 9841, on April 23, 1947, effective May 4, 1947
* Food subsidies by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, effective May 4, 1947
* Rent control by the Office of the Housing Expediter, effective May 4, 1947
* Price violation litigation by the Department of Justice, effective June 1, 1947
* All other OPA functions by the Division of Liquidation, Department of Commerce, effective June 1, 1947.

Famous employees include [[Social:Economist|economist]] John Kenneth Galbraith, legal scholar William Prosser, President Richard Nixon, and law professor John Honnold.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Jacobs|first=Meg|date=December 1997|title="How About Some Meat?": The Office of Price Administration, Consumption Politics, and State Building from the Bottom Up, 1941–1946|journal=The Journal of American History|volume=84|issue=3|pages=910–941|doi=10.2307/2953088|jstor=2953088}}</ref>

The OPA is featured, in fictionalized form as the Bureau of Price Regulation, in Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe mystery novel ''The Silent Speaker''.

The OPA unsuccessfully tried to revoke the car dealer license of unorthodox businessman Madman Muntz for violating used car regulations, subject to price control. Muntz was acquitted in Los Angeles Superior Court on 1 August 1945.<ref>Associated Press, "'Mad Man' Muntz Foils O.P.A. Charge", ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Thursday 2 August 1945, Vol. 51, p. 2.</ref>

During the Korean War, similar functions were performed by the [[Finance:Office of Price Stabilization|Office of Price Stabilization (OPS)]].

== Women and the OPA ==
The success of the OPA’s price controls and rationing policies depended on the support of women who acted as the main shoppers of their households, especially during wartime. Local community organizations, governments, and OPA boards held educational seminars aimed at women, targeted women to join local price and rationing boards, and recruited women for volunteer programs.<ref name=":0" /> Many women led local volunteer War Price and Rationing Boards that ensured adherence to stabilization policies through check-ins with stores to report businesses breaking the rules. Women involved with the OPA largely fell into two broad categories: those who were part of already organized groups, such as labor unions, women’s groups, and consumer groups, among others, often with agendas that aligned with OPA’s goals of price stabilization; and women not already part of organized groups, who came from diverse backgrounds. They used the OPA as a legally established and legitimate framework for organizing themselves.<ref name=":0" />

The OPA’s enlistment of women to ensure that local businesses were complying with federal policies extended the public sphere into the private sphere and the effective growth of “state supervision.”<ref name=":0" /> This resulted in a pseudo-militant attitude toward regulation and made it more difficult for politicians to curb the power of the OPA.

The OPA worked with consumer activists in a “mutually empowering” and mutually reliant fashion to ensure the effectiveness of its policies and activists’ interests.<ref name=":0" /> Thus, a large swathe of consumer activists helped to ensure that businesses were compliant with its policies. Widespread support of the OPA came from the belief that the agency could help establish postwar prosperity.

== African Americans and the OPA ==
Black consumer activists also were among those who supported the OPA, which gave them support from the federal government in fighting market discrimination.<ref name=":0" />

The OPA had a base of consumer support that included different socioeconomic classes and racial groups who supported the agency because of their belief it would bring about a postwar vision of “broad popular participation and consumer rights."<ref name=":0" /> The OPA worked to defend consumers from exploitation by businesses while also acting as a space for citizens to become involved in politics.

==Administrators of the office==
* Leon Henderson, 1941–1942
* Prentiss Marsh Brown, 1943
* Chester Bliss Bowles, 1943–1946

==OPA points==
OPA points are small [[Chemistry:Vulcanized fibre|vulcanized fibre]] red and blue ration [[Finance:Token coin|tokens]] issued during World War II to make change for ration coupons. Approximately 1.1 billion red and 0.9 billion blue were produced, and even though many were collected and destroyed after the war, they are still quite common today. The red OPA points are a bit more common than the blue. Each token has two letters on it, and some people collect them by letter combination.<ref name="pullman.com">{{Cite web | title=Forrest's Token Page: Sales Tax Tokens| url=http://users.pullman.com/fjstevens/tokens/taxinfo.html| access-date=2014-02-28}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Menu with Ceiling Prices - IMG 1488.JPG|An OPA menu with ceiling prices.
File:WWII USA Basic Mileage Ration (front).jpg|A mileage ration book issued by the OPA.
File:Office_of_Price_Administration_tokens_World_War_II.jpg|Red and blue OPA points.
</gallery>

==See also==
* Office of Economic Stabilization
* Stabilization Act of 1942
* United States home front during World War II

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Auerbach, Alfred. ''The OPA and Its Pricing Policies''. New York: Fairchild, 1945.
* Bartels, Andrew H. ''The Office of Price Administration and the Legacy of the New Deal, 1939-1946''. Public Historian, (1983) 5:3 pp.&nbsp;5–29. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/3377026 JSTOR]
* Bartels, Andrew H. ''The Politics of Price Control: The Office of Price Administration and the Dilemmas of Economic Stabilization, 1940-1946''. (Ph.D. dissertation, The Johns Hopkins University, 1980.)
* Galbraith, J. K. ''The Selection and Timing of Inflation Controls''. Review of Economics and Statistics, (1941) 23:2 pp.&nbsp;82–85. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1927509 JSTOR]
* Galbraith, John Kenneth. ''A Theory of Price Control.'' Boston, Harvard University Press, 1952.
* Galbraith, John Kenneth. ''A Life in Our Times: Memoirs.'' 1981.
* Hirsch, Julius. ''Price Control in the War Economy''. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1943.
* Mansfield, Harvey. ''A Short History of OPA.'' Washington, 1947.
* Office of Temporary Controls. ''The Beginnings of OPA''. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947.
* Thompson, Victor A. ''The Regulatory Process in OPA Rationing''. New York: King's Crown Press, 1950.
* Wilson, William Jerome, and Mabel Randolph. ''OPA Bibliography, 1940–1947''. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1948.

==External links==
* [https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/188.html Records of the Office of Price Administration (OPA)]


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[[Category:Price controls]]

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