War Loan V

The Fifth War Loan needed a shot in the arm. D-day had come and gone, spurring individuals to buy a vast swatch of E bonds. The B-29 raid on Japan sold several million dollars worth more, leading the Tokyo radio to explain that the U.S. bond drive was "one of the greatest swindles in American history." But now sales were lagging almost everywhere. So the Treasury Department razzle-dazzled a lukewarm public with more & more sex, sentiment and stunts:

P: In Manhattan, Treasury Secretary Morgenthau, in distinguished company (see cut), cut a ribbon with a huge pair of wooden shears, thereby turning Fifth Avenue into the "Avenue of the Allies." P: At a Chicago war-plant rally, Dancer Juanita Rios sold the nylons off her shapely legs for $1,500 in bonds (see cut). In Greensboro, N.C., one pair of nylons brought $25,000 without benefit of legs. P: In Hollywood "Prince" Mike (Harry Gerguson) Romanoff, proprietor of a fashionable movie-colony restaurant, offered a free case of Scotch (any brand) to each $10,000 bond purchaser, sold a case at ceiling price to buyers of a $5,000 bond. Three days' take: $78,000. P: The New Mexico boy or girl who sold the most bonds was promised a day's Governorship of the state. P: Major Allen V. Martini, 23, Army Air Forces hero, told 30,000 people in Wilmington, Del., to ask themselves: "What have I done today that a mother's son should die for me tonight?"

But still sales were slow. One reason was that more & more people were growing more & more optimistic about an early end of the war, as the good news kept flooding in. With everything going well, many citizens felt no need to dig out any further sacrifices. And the war against inflation has never been a popular war.

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