Historic U.S.A. American Patriotism Symbol/United States Treasury Department Bonds and Stamps Sales Promotion Poster: We can, we will, we must! Franklin D. Roosevelt; Buy U.S. war savings bonds and stamps now.

Most successful patriotic image!

This inspiring quote from Franklin D. Roosevelt: "We Can, We Will, We Must"-- Buy U.S. Savings Bonds and Stamps Now over this stunning picture the American flag proudly waving in the wind image is said to have been the most popular U.S. Treasury Department war bond and stamp sales promotion poster design of the Second World War. In 1941, Artist Carl Paulsen created a billboard design for the sale of war savings bonds and stamps. The American billboard industry displayed Paulsen's image of the American flag in some 18,000 American towns and cities March - April 1942. The billboard campaign was repeated in July 1942 and July 1943. To meet a large public demand for copies of the billboard, the Government Printing Office produced four million small color reproductions.

1942 WWII patriotic war bond poster published by the U.S. Department of Treasury in cooperation with the Outdoor Advertising Association for America. Click to enlarge.

Marketing and selling U.S. Government Bonds to finance the United States of Americas involvement in WWII:
In 1940 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had already overrun and divided up Poland, Japan was making progress towards conquering China, Nazi Germany had alarmed the world with successful military actions against Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and France the United States began marketing "defense bonds" to discreetly help provide military finance for war preparations. The U.S. treasury made these defense bonds affordable to anyone, they were sold for as little as $18.75 and matured in ten years, at which time the United States government paid the bondholder $25. Bonds in larger denominations from $50 to $1000 were also available; for those that found it difficult to purchase an entire bond at once, 10 cent savings stamps could be purchased and collected in Treasury approved stamp albums until the recipient had accumulated enough stamps for a bond purchase. The name defense bonds was eventually changed to War Bonds after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December, 1941, which resulted in the United States entering the war. The bond posters in this collection employed magnificent contemporary art with powerful text exhortations to buy war bonds accompanied with appeals to patriotism and conscience to successfully help sell the bonds. Also bond sales rallies were held throughout the country with famous celebrities, usually Hollywood film stars, to enhance the bond advertising effectiveness. The posters in this collection like the one shown on this page "We can, we will, we must! Franklin D. Roosevelt; Buy U.S. war savings bonds and stamps now." were powerful and successful marketing tools to aid in the sale of war bonds and over the course of the world war two 85 million Americans purchased bonds totaling approximately $185.7 billion.

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