WWII Posters - 2
We talked briefly last week in Part 1 of this series about War Bonds but I’d wager that many of you have never seen one. They looked a lot like regular savings bonds, didn’t they.
Although they were stamped “War Savings” bonds, they were actually U.S Series E Savings Bonds, first issued earlier in 1941 in an effort to control inflation. After our formal entry into the war in December of that year, they became known as “War Bonds”. Also known as “war loans” and “victory bonds”, they appealed to our sense of patriotism.
;)
Popular contemporary art was used to help promote the bonds. Norman Rockwell’s painting series Four Freedoms toured in a war bond effort that raised $132 million. Some of his Willie Gillis paintings and his Rosie the Riveter painting were raffled off during the United States Department of the Treasury’s Second War Loan Drive.
The music industry got on board with songs and campaigns like the song (and animated short), Any Bonds Today?. The Music Publishers Protective Association encouraged its members to include patriotic messages on the front of their sheet music like “Buy U.S. Bonds and Stamps”. Band leaders and celebrities held rallies where they encouraged the public to help their country by buying war bonds.
Although they were initially marketed as war bonds, Series E Savings Bonds were offered by the U.S. government until June 1980 when they were replaced by the Series EE bond.
To be continued…
Doug
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This is a very educational series. My father served in WW2 and spoke of the war bonds and stamps and also the many posters that got everyone involved. I had never heard that the bonds were first just a way to curb inflation by taking money out of the economy for a while and then renamed to capitalize on our patriotic duty. It makes sense though. It would have been silly to invent a new bond when you had just introduced one a few months earlier. It sure helped the government finance the war.
I love that you have some funny mindless things mixed in with the more educational stuff. Great site. I am looking forward to next weeks post on the subject :-)
I never knew this about Savings Bonds being to fight inflation and then becoming "War Bonds" to also help the war effort, then changing back to Savings Bonds after the war. They never mentioned any of this when I was in school, and my kids never heard of it either! (What does that say about our public school system?) Thank you for providing this information, I am looking forward to the next part next week.
Good post. Have a nice weekend and stay dry :-)
This was all news to me, thank you for the post!!
This is one thing I like about your site you always have something educational or that is interesting or funny. I don't read it every day but I subscribe so I check it about twice a week and always enjoy it.
Thanks all for the kind comments. I'm sometimes accused of pontification, a well deserved criticism. I'm working on that, but writing is cathartic for me so I walk a thin line between what's good for me and what I think readers will tolerate. Thanks to those of you that hang with me and "get it".
I remember these and the stamps too!! It seemed in those days that everyone, even kids, were actively working to win the war. A far cry from today when even congress seems anti-American.
Can you believe they are ramming their "stimulus" (pork) package down our throats? They want to stimulate the economy which is suffering from excessive debt by CREATING MORE DEBT! They are crazy! We will NEVER RECOVER from that debt load and it won't stimulate the economy.
I always wondered what these looked like! I wonder what a $50 was worth at maturity. Or did they continue earning?
I like the old cartoon to sell bonds. Everyone really was involved!
There is another video with the same title and song on youtube but with Bing Crosby singing in case you are interested. It isn't the original but still worth a watch. I didn't grab the link but you can search the name on youtube.