Scrap Drives May Have Trashed Cars, But Were the Drives Necessary?

[ericr]

Has anybody heard that the scrap drives (with the exception of aluminum) were really not needed and were designed to ballyhoo the population for the War effort?

I know that copper was a much-needed metal for the War, but old frying pans etc.?

One of Dad's friends owned a drug store and to buy a new tube of toothpaste, you had to turn in an old tube. There was apparently some lead content to the tubes. The druggist had a large pile in the back room and when the war ended, he simply threw them away.