At the beginning of World War II, the cutoff of natural rubber supplies from Southeast Asia threatened the United States and its allies with the loss of a strategic material. With U.S. government sponsorship, companies involved in rubber research and production joined in an unusual effort of technical cooperation and dedication to produce GR-S, Government Rubber-Styrene, as a general-purpose synthetic rubber on a commercial scale. In Akron and other U.S. locations, these companies, working with researchers in numerous government, academic, and industrial laboratories, developed and manufactured enough synthetic rubber in record time to meet wartime needs. The participating companies were The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, The B.F. Goodrich Company, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, and United States Rubber Company.
