When the troops came home from World War II, they didn’t just bring back stories—they brought back a taste for amphetamines. In this episode, we trace how wartime “pep pills” flooded postwar America—this time marketed at women. In this episode, we explore how “pep pills” promised energy, slim figures, and a cure for the quiet desperation of domestic life. From the pharmacy counter to pop culture, discover how a generation of housewives was sold a chemical solution for an impossible ideal.

Sources:

• University of Wisconsin-Madison advertisement catalog

• Nicholas Rassmussen: America’s First Amphetamine Epidemic

• PBS: Mrs. America: Women’s Roles in the 1950s

• Smithsonian Magazine: A Speedy History of America’s Addiction to Amphetamine