There are many innovations that helped America be successful in WWII: bombers, radio, women working on the homefront, etc. However, a less known but still very important innovation was the creation of war bonds. During WWII, war bonds were created/advertised, used to produce war supplies, and then paid back after the war. War bonds existed before WWII, but it was Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr. who began planning a defense bond program for the United States. He recruited political scientist Peter Odegard to help him create a program. They developed a voluntary loan system that was commonly called “defense bonds.” The idea was that citizens could purchase the bonds from the government, then the government would use the money
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Lots of people cashed them in, but there were many people who lost the paper or simply forgot. Today, there is $17 billion worth of unclaimed war bonds. Unless the certificates are found and cashed in, the United States government gets to keep the money. So were war bonds actually successful? The answer is yes. By the end of the war, about 85 million people had purchased war bonds for a grand total of $185.7 billion. This money gave the U.S. government lots of buying power and helped to win the war. However, there were a few negative aspects of war bonds. Some people experienced bullying and public shaming for not buying war bonds. In some areas, the homes of non buyers were painted …show more content…
The U.S. used war bonds in WWI also. The campaign was created by William Gibbs McAdoo, the Secretary of the Treasury. Posters were the most common form of advertisement. Much like WWII, famous figures were used to promote the bonds, such as Elsie Janis and Charlie Chaplin. The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts also sold bonds using the slogan “Every Scout to Save a Soldier.” The total cost raised was $21.5 billion (much less than the $185.7 billion raised in WWII). Also, the United States was not the only country to use war bonds; most other countries involved in the World Wars did. Austria-Hungary, Germany, Canada, and Great Britain have all used war
Lots of people cashed them in, but there were many people who lost the paper or simply forgot. Today, there is $17 billion worth of unclaimed war bonds. Unless the certificates are found and cashed in, the United States government gets to keep the money. So were war bonds actually successful? The answer is yes. By the end of the war, about 85 million people had purchased war bonds for a grand total of $185.7 billion. This money gave the U.S. government lots of buying power and helped to win the war. However, there were a few negative aspects of war bonds. Some people experienced bullying and public shaming for not buying war bonds. In some areas, the homes of non buyers were painted …show more content…
The U.S. used war bonds in WWI also. The campaign was created by William Gibbs McAdoo, the Secretary of the Treasury. Posters were the most common form of advertisement. Much like WWII, famous figures were used to promote the bonds, such as Elsie Janis and Charlie Chaplin. The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts also sold bonds using the slogan “Every Scout to Save a Soldier.” The total cost raised was $21.5 billion (much less than the $185.7 billion raised in WWII). Also, the United States was not the only country to use war bonds; most other countries involved in the World Wars did. Austria-Hungary, Germany, Canada, and Great Britain have all used war