Financing the War
Defense Savings Bonds were originally designed in 1940 to help the U.S. economy. These “Defense Bonds” became “War Bonds” after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The war bond campaigns helped pay the large expense of being in a war. The direct cost to the U.S. was estimated by the Treasury Department in 1947 to be over $350 billion dollars, compared to $33 billion dollars total for all other wars the United States had ever been involved in.
War Bonds could be bought in denominations ranging from $25 to $10,000. A war bond was actually a loan to the government to help pay for the cost of the war. A bond could be purchased for as little as $18.75, which would be worth $25 when it reached maturity in ten years. At first President Roosevelt’s advisors insisted that he should make the purchase of bonds compulsory. It was thought that this would eliminate the hazing some of the citizens received during World War I, when people stigmatized those who failed to purchase bonds by painting their houses and barns yellow. But Secretary of Treasurer Henry Morgenthau believed that a voluntary program was more appropriate, since it would “Make the country war-minded,” he said, “and give people an opportunity to do something.”
And so it did. After hearing about the attack on Pearl Harbor, Chester R. Hinkle invited members of the Jonathan Dayton Daughters of the American Revolution chapter to run a Bond Stamp booth on Main Street in downtown Dayton. He had twenty volunteers and had opened the booth by the time the US had declared war on Japan the following day.
Within a year, nearly a half million dollars worth of stamps had been sold. The National Historical magazine carried a story on the operation of the booth in their February 1942, issue with pictures. The booth was the first of its kind to be operated by the DAR and received a lot of publicity for its great success.
Daytonian Ray Minton came up with a novel idea a week after the war began. When he learned that an estimated million dollars was given away as tips each day in the United States, he decided that a great deal of that extra cash could be turned into savings for the government by tipping waiters with Defense stamps. His idea consisted of asking if the person he was tipping owned a book for war stamps. If they did not, the tip would be placed in a free book; several of Milton carried with him. The unusual method of tipping caught on and spread quickly, especially after the plan was introduced to 100 businessmen at a Ta-wa-si business club meeting.
Victory Loan drives & War Bond rallies were held everywhere a vacant corner could be found. Special events were held to entice people to buy more bonds. Over 20,000 attended the “Bondwagon” show held at Island Park band shell on July 4, 1942. The crowd not only listened to band leader Kay Kyser’s music, they also listened to him tell them that everyone on America’s home front “must awake to the dangers that face America on this Day of Independence, and must combat that danger by buying war stamps and bonds.”
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, a film comedy team, filled Island Park on August 16, 1942 when they arrived to help build interest in the war bond and stamp campaign. More than 20,000 people came to watch the two men clown around, before they got serious and began selling their audience on the idea of buying bonds. A month later, Fred Astaire and Hugh Herbert and Ilona Massey appeared in the city to sell war bonds.
Dayton citizens were inventive in their ways to raise money for bond sales. On December 5, 1942 the Dayton Union Stockyards held a “Victory Hogs” sale. Farmers who pledged their hogs for sale received their proceeds in war bonds and stamps. A war bond rally held in front of the courthouse on October 5, 1942 brought in $6,600 in sales when sports mementos were auctioned off. A football used in the University of Dayton-Heidelberg game the week before (Dayton Flyers having won 20 to 2) brought the highest bid, when it was sold for $5000 in bonds to Local 82, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (AFL). The football had been autographed by the coach and the Flyer varsity team. After shelling out $1100 for bonds, Ralph Schear walked away the proud owner of a baseball bearing the autograph of every member of the world champion St. Louis Cardinals. Another ball, autographed by members of the Brooklyn Dodgers, went to Thomas Longo for $400. Because of events like these, Montgomery County led the state in War Bonds sales several times during the war.
In 1943, David L. Rike, vice president of Rike-Kumler Co., was selected as Montgomery County’s war bond champion for his outstanding work in war bond sales during the month of July. The efforts of the Rike-Kumler Co., in the opening of “Victory Corner” for war bond sales, as well as the large contribution of the company’s employees, were considered when the award was given. The “Victory Corner” booth, located at Main and Second Streets, opened on July 1, and was the focal point of War Bond sales, leading to thousands of dollars being collected for the cause.
By the end of the war it was estimated that eighty-five million Americans, over half the population of the U.S., held War Bonds. Banks, insurance companies and big corporations accounted for most of the $135 billion dollars in bonds purchased during the war, but over $36 billion of it was in Series “E” small-denomination certificates that were bought by individual citizens.
Sidebar text:
War Loan Drives were organized. The dates were:
First - Nov. 30 to Dec. 23, 1942
Second - April 12 to May 1, 1943
Third - Sept. 9 to Oct. 16, 1943
Fourth - Jan. 18 to Feb. 29, 1944
Fifth - June 12 to July 8, 1944
Sixth - Nov. 20 to Dec. 16, 1944
Seventh - May 14 to June 30, 1945
Eighth (Victory) - Oct. 29 to Dec. 31, 1945
An idea that was well received was the use of a sticker designed by NCR. The stickers, which asked buyers to “Take part of Your Change in Defense Stamps”, were made to attach to cash registers. Merchants throughout the country began handing stamps back as change in an effort to help reach a goal of one billion dollars in defense stamps in 1942. The sticker later asked shoppers to take their change in War Saving Stamps after Pearl Harbor. This was done in cooperation with the U. S. Treasury. The picture below shows it being used at Elder & Johnston Department store in Dayton.
A 4-page booklet called “Retailers for Victory” was edited and published by NCR, under the direction of the Retail Stores Division of the U. S. Treasury. The first booklet was published May 1, 1942 and was distributed to key retailers and to state and city administrators of the War Savings Division of the Treasury Department. A total of 13,000 copies of the bulletin were published twice monthly. Contents of the bulletin included means and methods of promoting the sale of War Stamps and Bonds through retail stores, with a strong emphasis on stores that were doing well in that area. Each issue contained the NCR slogan “Take part of your change in War Stamps.”
On March 19, 1944 a 600-foot long light cruiser ship bearing the name U.S.S. Dayton, was launched. The Dayton cost $31 million and was underwritten by the citizens of Dayton through the purchase of war bonds. The city of Dayton, through the courtesy of NCR, presented an eight-piece sterling silver tea set to the officers of the cruiser. The set was a replica of the original Paul Revere service that was housed in a museum in Boston. However, unlike the original set, the huge tray presented to the cruiser was inscribed with etched pictures of the Wright Memorial, Newcom tavern, Deeds Carillon, Patterson Memorial and the Dayton skyline. After commissioning in January 1945 the Dayton had shakedown and training cruises before joining Admiral Halsey’s famed Task Force 38 in June 1945. After war’s end, the Dayton pulled occupation duty at Tokyo and returned to the United States late in 1945. Later she joined the Mediterranean fleet, becoming flagship in 1947. By 1962, however, she was considered too obsolete for modern warfare. Costs of converting the ship were too high in proportion to new construction. Accordingly, the ship was stripped of all useable material and sold for scrap.
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