Synthetic rubber program (1942-1945)
When Japan seized Southeast Asia's rubber plantations in early 1942, the US lost access to roughly 90% of its natural rubber supply, a material vital for tires, hoses, and aircraft. The federal government poured hundreds of millions of dollars into building a synthetic rubber industry from scratch.
By 1944 the US produced more synthetic rubber than it had ever imported, keeping military vehicles and planes running.
The program proved federal capital could create a strategic domestic industry quickly when dependency threatened security.
Same dependency problem, same tool: government money to build domestic capacity for a security-critical material.
