Record #15 - National Defense Program Cards
Western Pennsylvania has a tradition of contributing to the country’s war efforts. For example, Allegheny Arsenal in Lawrenceville provided munitions for the Union during the Civil War, and the Homestead Steel Works rolled sheet steel for warships during the Great War. Production for World War II was no different, as the area’s steel mills and electrical plants produced armor, bombs, turbines and much more for the nation’s military.
The National Defense Program oversaw war production in the United States and was thus responsible for ensuring that the employees of military contractors were reliable. They implemented an identification card system to collect information about job applicants, including a photograph and fingerprints, as a way to document the background of the civilian workforce at each plant. The Alien Registration, or Smith, Act of 1940 had previously required all non-citizen adults to register with the Federal government in the hope of identifying potential subversives and spies. However, by 1941, as the country increased production in preparation for war, citizens and immigrants alike were subject to FBI background checks and those found to be suspicious were removed from defense projects.
Sampling of worker identification, 1951, United States Steel Corporation Duquesne Works Industrial Relations Department Records, AIS.1987.03
Typical plant identification included the employee’s name, identification number, photograph and department to document the worker’s current status; however, each National Defense card contains the applicant’s name, address, birthplace, citizenship status, and their desired employment position. They also contain the applicant’s birth date, eye and hair color, complexion, build, and a description of any identifying marks or scars. Many cards have a thumbnail photo of the applicant and most contain their fingerprints and signature if they could write. The focus here was the employee’s entire life, not simply their life in the steel mill.
As a standalone record, a card is a great find for any genealogist that can trace their roots to WWII-era McKeesport. In some cases the small thumbnail photograph is the only image that can be found of an individual. On the whole, the data these cards contain reveal trends in employment by race, nationality and gender. Women are no longer confined to the office as secretaries; they are in the mill as laborers and crane operators. Immigrant workers from Italy and Germany are working to make bombs that will be sent overseas to be used against their relatives in Europe while others from England, France and Poland are doing the same to save theirs.
George Lesko National Defense Program card, United States Steel Corporation National-Duquesne Works Records, AIS.1991.06
The history of these particular cards involves a lot of waiting and good fortune. U.S. Steel’s National Tube Company in McKeesport maintained their National Defense Program cards for forty years after the war had ended. After sitting in the vacant mill from 1987 to 1991, dodging all of the hazards that come along with abandoned buildings, the cards were brought to the Archives Service Center and a wealth of information about the wartime labor force came with them. The cards have proven to be some of our more popular records thanks in part to their detailed arrangement and listing on our Labor Legacy website.
When placed in the context of other employee cards at the archives, including records from A.M. Byers in South Side Pittsburgh and Ambridge; Jones & Laughlin in Aliquippa, South Side and Hazelwood; and U.S. Steel’s Duquesne Works, these cards help document tens of thousands of steelworkers that labored in western Pennsylvania for over century.
-Zach Brodt
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