Amazon.com Review
During World War II, the U.S. Treasury Department mounted seven campaigns to sell bonds that helped fund the war effort. These campaigns, writes Lawrence R. Samuel in this illuminating work of social history, turned on a conception of Americans as a people united against Fascism, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or class. The pitch worked extremely well, raising more than $150 billion. It also raised expectations, especially among African Americans, that the pledge to fight racist policies abroad would apply to the home front as well. The 1942 Double-V campaign, in fact, included a slogan promising a commitment to fight democracy's enemies at home and abroad--a slogan that was dropped after certain politicians complained that it was subversive. Samuel makes tentative links between such progressive ideas and the birth of the civil rights movement, which adds to an already fascinating study.
From Library Journal
Samuel, the president of a Minneapolis consulting firm, explores here the role of the World War II bond drives. The author builds a convincing case that the drives were developed to help consolidate American society. Besides raising money for the war, the drives were intended to build public consensus by including all racial and ethnic groups. This aspect of the bond drives became one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever devised. Samuel writes engagingly, especially on the African American community, whose participation was not a "given" in those days?for good reason. While the author has a tendency to overuse examples, some 40 illustrations and photographs show the wide support for the drives. Recommended for World War II collections.?Mark E. Ellis, Albany State Univ., Ga.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
