The United States was in a dilemma. The men had gone off to Europe to fight in World War II, but the country needed planes and guns. The ranks of childless women who could work in factories were running thin. As mothers were urged to go to work, however, the question arose: What to do with their children? As a lawmaker at the time warned, “[Y]ou cannot have a contented mother working in a war factory if she is worrying about her children, and you cannot have children running wild in the streets without a bad effect on the coming generation.”

The sun is about to set by Bram van Broekhoven