How the American military implemented their well-known “birth control spectacles.”
In 1917, the U.S. military realized that not every sailor, soldier, airman, or Marine had perfect vision. As a result, standardized spectacles fell within the purview of the Council of National Defense’s Subcommittee of Ophthalmology. According to Army documents, there was no provision for providing eyeglasses to soldiers at the start of the conflict. The military’s now-famous “birth control glasses” were created as a solution to the absence of standardized eyewear during World War I.
