World War II restrictions cut deep into every American pantry
as federal officials announced that sliced bread would be
rationed on this day in history, Jan. 18, 1943.

"I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to
the morale and saneness of a household," distraught mother
Sue Forrester of Fairfield, Connecticut, claiming to speak on
behalf of America’s housewives, lamented in a New York Times
letter to the editor.

Wartime rationing had already caused severe restrictions on
the nation’s household food supply.

Basic resources were devoted in ever-growing volume to the
war effort in 1943, as the tide of battle turned and the U.S. and
its Allies went on the offensive across the vast expanse of two
oceans.

Bread rationing marked the depths of sacrifices on the home
front. 

Young boy with a war ration book at a supermarket, as
children were taught the facts of point rationing during
the war.

The Peace Patrol was a U.S. Savings Stamp and Bond program
targeted at school-aged children called “Little Savers” that was
launched in the late 1950s.

                              Alice Sanger (1864 – 1941)

President Benjamin Harrison welcomes Alice Sanger as the first
female White House staffer on January 2, 1890.

President Benjamin Harrison (1833 – 1901)

The first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, collectively
known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified following vigorous
national debate on this day in history, Dec. 15, 1791.

The passage came three-and-a-half years after the Constitution
was enacted to become the framework of the government on
June 21, 1788. 

Washington on his Deathbed, an 1851 portrait by Junius
Brutus Stearns.

George Washington, the American revolutionary leader and
first president of the United States, died at his estate in Mount
Vernon, Virginia. He was 67 years old. His last words were
"’Tis well."

The diagnosis of Washington’s illness and the immediate
cause of his death have been subjects of much debate.       

     
Modern medical authors have concluded that he likely died
from  severe epiglottitis, an inflammation in the throat,
complicated by various treatments which included extensive bloodletting.      
 


        
        
        
        
       

The sarcophagi of George (right) and Martha Washington at
the entrance to their tomb in Mount Vernon.

Marble Statue of George Washington by Jean-Antoine
Houdon, circa 1794 State Capital, Commonwealth of
Virginia, Library of Virginia.