During World War I, the US government set up an extensive propaganda campaign to persuade American citizens to buy Liberty Bonds. These bonds were a major source of money for military operations abroad. The poster “Keep These Off the U.S.A.” plays on the people’s fear, pride in their country, and the emotional pressure to convince them that financial involvement is tantamount to fighting in the front line. Combining current research on Liberty Bonds with the poster reveals how the government used both propaganda and financial instruments to convert the common people into investors in the war.

The poster depicts boots dripping with the enemies’ blood and showing the sign of the German imperial power, thus symbolizing the violent threat of enemy invasion. The message of the poster is clear and urgent: the purchase of Liberty Bonds is the thing that keeps the war “off” American soil. Kang and Rockoff explain that this was a tactic by the Treasury to “capitalize patriotism,” whereby they used various emotional triggers (fear, duty and loyalty) to gain the support needed for war finance.(4) The poster with its grim imagery is a perfect example of this method as it shows an act of purchasing as one of the ways of protecting oneself.

On the other hand, the authors of the article state that the emotional appeal was just a fragment of the eventual complete transformation of the public finance. Hilt, Jaremski, and Rahn maintain that Liberty Bond campaigns were instrumental in changing American financial life as they introduced the securities markets to millions of new investors.(3) This poster and others like it took people from the culture of Main Street and placed them in that of Wall Street. People who were unacquainted with investment were therefore urged to take part in it. The patriotic presentation served as an opportunistic and morale-charged vehicle through which the financial system was getting familiarized with the public.

Furthermore, the concept of accessibility was part of the government’s strategy. Hilt and Rahn elaborate on the government’s effort to extend selling chances by implementing lower denominations, introducing installment plans, and facilitating local bank outreach, so that even the working-class families would be able to take part.(2) Thus, one can see that propaganda was not only targeting the wealthy class but had to be attractive to all social groups. The poster’s straightforward design and its choice of words engaging a wider public can grasp the issue without any prior financial knowledge.

Sutch’s work provides evidence that Liberty Bonds served as a supporting measure to progressive tax policies primarily aimed at the affluent.(5) Through these bonds, middle- and lower-income earners were able to contribute on a voluntary basis, thus creating a feeling of shared sacrifice across the different social classes. The poster here is doing the same thing: by illustrating national defense as a joint effort of everyone, it amplifies the idea. What it does is that it threatens that if one does not take action, then the country is the one that will suffer.

Alongside the public messaging, the government was also active behind the scenes to keep the bond market stable. As Butkiewicz and Solcan explain, the War Finance Corporation was ready to step in and purchase bonds in order to keep their prices stable and investors confident.(1) Without such support, the propaganda campaigns would not have gone so smoothly: people were encouraged to purchase bonds not only because they were scared or felt a patriotic duty to do so but also because they were assured that the government was taking steps to minimize financial risk.

The “Keep These Off the U.S.A.” poster shows the main ideas that were at the core of the Liberty Bond campaign: the use of the emotions to put pressure on people, everyone taking part, and patriotism being mixed with personal finance. The poster along with economic research goes beyond mere propaganda and exhibits a planned work of changing people’s investment attitudes and calling the whole nation to war.

Bibliography:

4.Kang, Sung Won, and Hugh Rockoff. “Capitalizing Patriotism: The Liberty Loans of World War I: Financial History Review.” Cambridge Core, May 20, 2015. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/financial-history-review/article/abs/capitalizing-patriotism-the-liberty-loans-of-world-war-i/97BFB97B9E316504258249F96BA36F95.

• This article dives into motives behind Liberty Loans. It argues that the U.S. Treasury tried “capitalizing patriotism” to reach a broader group, from Wall Street to immigrants. This helps analyze the poster’s emotional appeal as part of a broader financial strategy.

5.Sutch, Richard. “Financing the Great War: A Class Tax for the Wealthy, Liberty Bonds for All by Richard C. Sutch :: SSRN.” SSRN.https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2665730.