Rubber Matters: Solving the World War II Rubber Problem    A
legacy  Orlando Battista  Orlando A. Battista worked for
American Viscose Corporation, where he conducted polymer
research. CHF Collections.  As the war came to a close, American
interest in synthetic rubber waned. Many of the scientists,
politicians, and citizens who had been asked to reduce rubber
consumption for the war effort believed that the natural-rubber
supplies would be refreshed and that synthetic rubber would no
longer be needed. Given the rapid development of synthetic-
rubber research and of the mass production of synthetic rubber
in a relatively short period, no one was much concerned with
redeploying governmental and industrial bodies to fulfill future
needs. As Greer noted in his oral history, the synthetic-rubber
programs of World War II:  showed that you could start almost
from scratch and build a whole new industry that was operating
within an eighteen-month to two-year period. When you consider
what was done in such a short time,