US Buy War Bonds poster depicting the Statue of Liberty

The poster was acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016. 

US Buy War Bonds poster depicting the Statue of Liberty 

overall: Height: 40.000 inches (101.6 cm) | Width: 28.500 inches (72.39 cm) 

American war bond poster printed in 1945, featuring a clenched fist holding war bonds superimposed in front of the Statue of Liberty’s arm and torch. The symbolism of the image implies that purchasing war bonds was a way the public could support and protect American liberty, represented by the Statue of Liberty’s torch, which is also the lone light in the night sky. The United States Government offered the public the opportunity to purchase war bonds, and return them for reimbursement at a later date. Purchasing bonds was considered patriotic and an investment in victory. U.S. posters tended to focus on patriotic themes and appeals to emotion to garner support. War bond advertisement posters were issued by the United States Treasury Department to encourage the purchase of war bonds and war stamps. There were eight war loan drives conducted from 1942 to 1945. The public could purchase a $25 war bond for $18.75, which would be used to help finance the war effort. The war bond could be redeemed 10 years after the purchase for the full $25. Bond quotas were set up on the national, state, county, and town levels to encourage the sale of war bonds. Volunteers went door-to-door to sell war bonds. By the end of the war, 85 million Americans had purchased over $185 billion in war bonds. 

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Poster printed on rectangular, mediumweight off-white paper with an image of a man’s raised hand clutching war bonds, mirroring the raised arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty in the background. The man’s raised right hand and forearm are in the foreground, and he is holding several 100-dollar war bonds. The Statue of Liberty’s right arm holds the torch high, and lights up the starry night sky. Large, white text is in the lower right corner, and the poster has a narrow, off-white border with small, black text along the bottom. There are two handwritten, cursive inscriptions on the back. The paper is folded into sixteenths with faint discoloration along the creases. back, bottom right edge, handwritten, pencil : War Bonds · SOL arm/ Flame back, top right, handwritten, pencil : Mrs. Erdman / Aug. 1945