Manzanar Guayule Project
The Manzanar Guayule Project began in April 1942, in the Manzanar internment camp. The objective of the project was to produce a domestic source of rubber after the Axis powers had gained control of areas that supplied rubber from Hevea braziliensis. The project was operated by California Institute of Technology (Caltech) scientists and led by Robert Emerson. Japanese Americans made up the primary workforce and were responsible for the successes and achievements of the project. Several scientific articles on guayule were published as a result. The project was ended by government order towards the end of World War II along with other similar projects like the Salinas project. Project Background Because of the Axis powers gaining control of areas that supplied rubber from Hevea braziliensis, there was a nationwide rubber shortage and a need for more rubber from an alternative source. Guayule was seen as a potential way to eventually solve the rubber shortage of the country. In response to this crisis, the US government created the Emergency Rubber Project (ERP) which then planted seventy-five thousand acres of guayule and obtained all US assets of the Intercontinental Rubber Company. Caltech scientists had previous contracts with the Intercontinental Rubber Company but