Leesburg, Florida during World War II: Portrait of an American home front

World War II has been considered a "golden age" for Americans, years during which civilians cooperated in defense programs and faced shortages with cheerful self-sacrifice. The wartime experiences of individual communities such as Leesburg, Florida, provide pieces of the national mosaic and offer insight into small town perspectives of home front duty and obligation. Leesburg's residents faced the same adjustments as other Americans, and their immersion in wartime activities cultivated characteristic home front patriotism. Though the town's population nearly doubled when unprecedented military expansion brought thousands of personnel into the area, and hundreds of German POWs arrived to ease the critical agricultural labor shortage, Leesburg was spared the severe deprivation, health problems, and social tensions common in overcrowded defense industry areas. Thus Leesburg successfully preserved its civic goals, its social values, and its small town atmosphere, and experienced a slow but steady rate of growth and improvement during the war.