In WW II, there was no nationwide shortage of scrap on the home front. In backyards, attics, barns, ditches, garages, and factory storage sheds across the country, all sorts of scrap material awaited transport and eventual conversion to arms. Yet the public's awareness of the scrap, and the national willpower necessary to collect it, seemed to be missing. Among the many people who found themselves obsessed with the scrap problem in the summer of 1942 was Henry Doorly, the publisher of Nebraska's largest daily, the "Omaha World-Herald." In early July, Doorly read in his own newspaper about the scrap situation. Discussing the problem with his wife, Margaret Hitchcock Doorly, he realized that "while he could not do the job for the nation, he could at least do it in Nebraska, thereby setting an example for the nation." He began to draft plans for a statewide scrap drive, one that would eventually be nicknamed "the Nebraska plan."