With millions of new wage earners working in war production plants, and little on which to spend their wages, Americans were encouraged to buy war bonds. It was the patriotic thing to do, after all. That money helped pay for the tools of warfare the G.I.’s so desperately needed. By war’s end, some 85 million Americans had purchased $185 billion worth of war bonds.
Bond Poster
Following Congress’s formal declaration of war on December 8, 1941, Americans had no qualms about using propaganda posters to rally their fellow citizens to the cause. Over the next several years, nearly 200,000 different designs were printed, exhorting young men and women to enlist, encouraging those who stayed at home to conserve gas, rubber, and an assortment of other commodities, and asking everyone to buy bonds. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library has an impressive collection of these posters, and many of our best are displayed here.
Propaganda Poster
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
As American men flooded into the nation’s armed services, millions of women rolled up their sleeves and worked in factories, shipyards, and on the farm. Employees at the Sangamon Ordnance Plant in Illiopolis, Illinois, were required to wear a worker ID badge. Note the similar ID pin worn on the collar of Rosie the Riveter in the famous “We Can Do It” poster.
Sangamon Ordnance Worker ID Badge
Courtesy of Kathy Hatcher
American manufacturers produced much more than the tools of war. They also supplied Americans with an abundance of items that kept the war effort uppermost in the public’s mind, and in the process proved Americans’ patriotism and ingenuity
Ration Books
Courtesy of Kathy Hatcher
Victory Pin
Courtesy of Kathy Hatcher
Bombs Away Game
Courtesy of Kathy Hatcher