WWII War Bond Propaganda

Ryan Nguyen

Senior Division

Individual Website
 Process Paper

Media today is an extremely important tool and part of our lives. A simple video, image,

or photograph can turn people from all multitudes of life into a frenzy. Lately, what I’ve found

that the public can be most drawn to is the actions of the government. Today, it is so important to

include oneself in politics and be involved in it. So it got me thinking, in what time periods can

the public stand united and share the same mindset and goals as its government? The obvious

answer was when a nation is in a warring nation, and arguably the largest war the United States

was pulled into was WWII. As I learned more about this period, the context around America

during this time was complex and unruly. It had just gone through the Great Depression, so once

the government entered the war, it would need to cultivate support by producing propaganda.

Now, since America was in a rough financial crisis, it’d need to raise funds, and through this I

found out about war bonds. Seeing the numerous posters depicting stereotyped men and women,

I decided to choose this topic.

To research this topic, I had to specifically look for war bond propaganda. This meant

anywhere ranging from radios, posters, and newspapers, to even television advertisements. I had

to also conduct research on the historical context, which included America’s isolationism, the

Great Depression, and the event that spurred the US into WWII, Pearl Harbor. The three points I

wanted to focus on were the amount of bonds purchased, the dissolvement of isolationist

sentiment, and the effect on American patriotism. Colors and symbols had to be studied on their

effects on the people’s psyche.

The category that I’d chosen this year was the website category. Due to COVID-19, the

most realistic option was the website, but due to last year’s aggravating experience with the

NHD website builder, I switched to Weebly. I had no interests in qualifying for county, and I
found the Weebly UI more intuitive. To build the website, I needed to find images of posters,

letters, and videos of propaganda.

Without war bond propaganda, the US would undoubtedly be at a disadvantage in

funding, equipment, and military. The Great Depression destroyed the nation’s economy, but

with the creation of propaganda, the public would purchase bonds at a massive rate, exceeding

estimations of each bond drive. The propaganda made the public perceive it as a possible future,

thus portioning their paychecks to purchase bonds. Without war bond propaganda, US

perceptions about US involvement would be much more controversial and public opinions would

be skewed and divided.