We Are What We Eat: Food and American Identity at the National Archives

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In 1974, a Boy Scout wrote to his Senator detailing his views on a pressing national issue. "This is the worst problem I can think of," Jamie Bates wrote. "You cannot buy much candy for a nickel now." Kids say the darndest things, but the letter tells us more than that. "It was written at a time when there was a lot of inflation and demand that the government do something about prices," Kamps says. "I like sugar," wrote this child of the Great Inflation era. "But mother can not buy it because it is [too] high. She has to use a substutute [sic]. Can you see what you can do about this problem. Thank you."

• Photos: A Worldwide Day's Worth of Food