Interest rates on the bonds were low, but you could purchase a $25 bond for only $18.75. In ten years, at maturity, the bond would be worth $25. During WWII, the median yearly income was around $2,000, so it was still a substantial investment towards the future, but it was a secure investment also.
As the war escalated in Europe, U.S. citizens did what they could to support their country. This was a time in our nation’s history when patriotism blurred political lines and personal grievances were set aside. This was true patriotism.
Huge campaigns to promote the purchase of War Bonds were initiated by the War Advertising Council. Movies were made, songs were sung, and it was considered everyone’s patriotic duty to buy War Bonds to protect our freedom. Schools held War Bond Drives and students brought in nickels, dimes, and quarters to see if their school could raise more money for bonds than other schools.
Advertisements for bonds were everywhere; in newspapers, newsreels, radio programs and posted on street corners. More than one-quarter of a billion dollars’ worth of advertising was donated during the first three years of the National Defense Saving Program. Patriotism and conscience ruled the campaigns. There were even special bonds, not labeled as War Bonds, which were issued for those who could not conscientiously buy something meant to support the war.
The special bonds were mainly issued to historically peaceful church members. In all, 33,006 of these special bonds were sold for a total value of $6.74 million, mostly to Mennonites, Brethren, and Quakers. This was every patriotic citizen’s war.
The bond campaign was on everyone’s mind. In Lassen County in May of 1942, citizens pledged $43,000 in bond purchases. By June, it was up to $154,117.56. In November, Lassen Union High School and Lassen Junior College celebrated Armistice Day (Veteran’s Day) by purchasing $3,300 in bonds and stamps in one day. The trend continued throughout the campaign. By May of 1945, the Lassen County efforts had far exceeded the proposed quotas, bringing in $1,047,000.
The Lassen Union High School journalism class was prompted to take a student poll to determine just what students intended to do with their money when the bonds matured in ten years. Fifty-three percent planned to use the money to further their education. Twenty-nine percent plan to invest in a business venture, while 17% were interested in travel and 2% were saving to get married.
Twenty-six percent would buy automobiles or airplanes, 4% wanted to purchase clothing, and 14% were looking towards purchasing a home, while eleven percent had a special hobby in mind. Twenty-one percent said that they were planning on keeping at least some of the money in savings, and another 21% said that their bonds were purchased with the sole purpose of supporting the war effort.
A major proponent of the effort to sell war bonds in Lassen County was Herman Myre ‘Dad’ Starr, a transplant from New York via Los Angeles. Herman was born in New York in 1866. His wife, Mary, had died in 1921, and Herman made his way north to work for the new Lassen Lumber & Box Co. mill. By the time he arrived in Lassen County he was 56 years old and became known as ‘Dad’ by his fellow mill workers.
In 1929, Dad Starr retired from the mill, and often took trips down to Los Angeles to visit old friends. He noticed that the southern part of the state took the war effort much more seriously than did those folks in Lassen County, and Dad decided to do something about it.
He came home and set up a little stand, which he called ‘Victory House’, on Susanville’s Main Street. Here at his little stand, he began to sell War Bonds (also called ‘Victory Bonds’). Dad felt that he was appreciated, and he enjoyed being part of the war effort and making a difference. As the weather turned cold, Mrs. Ruth Spalding, from Spalding Drugs, invited Dad to move his little stand inside the store to keep warm.
Dad Starr’s biggest day ever was on December 7, 1941, when local citizens, enraged by the attack on Pearl Harbor, rushed to support their country. On that day, Dad sold $10,000 in War Bonds.
His largest sale ever was a $10,000 bond, and between Lincoln and Washington’s Birthdays in 1942, he sold $15,000 worth of bonds and stamps. As a ‘thank you’, at Christmas in 1942, locals gathered $100 to give to Dad Starr for his unfailing efforts.
In 1946, the U.S. Government gave Herman M. ‘Dad’ Starr an aluminum plaque to commemorate his sales of $1,000,000 worth of bonds. Dad Starr died in Susanville in 1961 and is buried in the Lassen Cemetery on Chestnut Street.
The War Savings Bonds served their purpose. On January 3, 1946, the remaining money from the Victory Bonds Campaign was deposited into the U.S. Treasury. Over 85 million people, half of the U.S. population, had purchased 185.7 billion dollars’ worth of bonds and stamps, in an effort to make our country safe and to secure our future.
WWII cost the citizens of the United States more than $300 billion, more than four trillion in today’s money. The countless lives lost, and the sacrifices made to secure the future of our nation were tremendous, but today, we enjoy the freedoms which were so painfully achieved by others.
After WWII, the ‘E’ Series bonds were changed to Savings Bonds, and in 1980 they were replaced by ‘EE’ Series bonds (or Patriot Bonds). No longer can you slip a paper Savings Bond into a birthday card as a gift. Savings Bonds are electronically issued. But you can still purchase up to $5,000 per year in paper ‘I’ Bonds using your Federal Income Tax Refund.
