The quest for rural power hit a major road block in 1941when the U.S. entered World War II. Through the Office of Production Management, the U.S. government diverted many raw materials, including copper and aluminum wire used in construction of electrical lines, to supply the war effort. Government officials accused cooperatives of hoarding these supplies in defiance of the ban. The U.S. Congress investigated these accusations and eventually determined cooperatives had not engaged in any unpatriotic hoarding.
Although co-ops believed that continuing to build rural lines actually helped the war effort, they obeyed the order and curbed construction. In addition to losing critical materials, cooperatives also lost many of their workers who left to fight in the War. The coops and their customers accepted this delay in expansion of the lines as a patriotic sacrifice they would make to aid the war effort. However, when the war ended, those who had been waiting patiently for electrical service pressed the cooperatives to hurry up and bring them electricity.
