Attack Attack Attack
Maker
Ferdinand Warren
Date1942
Object number00017909
NamePoster
MediumInk on paper
DimensionsOverall: 710 x 559 mm, 0.05 kg
ClassificationsPosters and postcards
Credit LineANMM Collection
Purchased with USA Bicentennial Gift funds
DescriptionThis poster aims to promote the sale of war bonds by showing a group of Marines storming a beach in the Pacific. Buying war bonds was a major way people contributed to the war campaign and the American government produced hundreds of posters to motivate people to invest.HistoryBetween 1941 and 1946 the War Finance Committee was responsible for raising money for the American war effort through a series of loan drives. In total over US$185 billion of securities were sold. By the end of World War II over 85 million Americans had invested in war bonds. No other country had as many people contribute.
The sale of war bonds provided a way in which patriotic attitudes and the spirit of sacrifice could be expressed. Bonds became the primary method through which those on the home-front contributed to national defense and the war effort. Although initially the goal of the bond drives was to finance the war, their greatest accomplishment was the positive impact they had on the morale of home-front Americans.
For the Government, war bond drives had the added benefit of lowering inflation. With more people employed in manufacturing and war related industries there was an increase in individual income at a time when domestic products were being rationed. Patriotic saving through the purchase of war bonds removed this excess money from circulation.
SignificanceThis is representative of how posters depicted battle scenes to encourage the purchase of war bonds.
