Original Items: Limited Quantity Available. We just received a stack of World War Two Homefront unused bowling alley scorecards that feature a war bonds advertisement at the bottom. In America during the war, advertisements for the sale of War Savings Bonds and Stamps were everywhere. They were advertised on posters, billboards, the radio and even scorecards for various games, including bowling.
 
Each sheet measures 17” x 11 ½” and are without damage, only minor age fading and toning. The bottom of the cards feature the text “Keep ‘em Rollin Buy War Savings Bonds and Stamps". The image of the bowler shows him using a “Minuteman” bowling ball being rolled forcibly towards the fleeing caricatures of the Axis power leader; of “AH”, Mussolini and Hideki Tojo. These images were very common in the years leading up to and during America’s involvement during the war.
 
This is a wonderful opportunity to add a sheet of homefront related history to your collections. If someone you know is an avid bowler and history enthusiast, this is the perfect gift!
 
War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war. They are also a means to control inflation by removing money from circulation in a stimulated wartime economy. War bonds are either retail bonds marketed directly to the public or wholesale bonds traded on a stock market. Exhortations to buy war bonds are often accompanied by appeals to patriotism and conscience. Retail war bonds, like other retail bonds, tend to have a yield which is below that offered by the market and are often made available in a wide range of denominations to make them affordable for all citizens.
 
Governments throughout history have needed to borrow money to fight wars. Traditionally they dealt with a small group of rich financiers such as Jakob Fugger and Nathan Rothschild, but no particular distinction was made between debt incurred in war or peace. An early use of the term "war bond" was for the $11 million raised by the US Congress in an Act of 14 March 1812, to fund the War of 1812, but this was not aimed at the general public. Until July 2015, perhaps the oldest bonds still outstanding as a result of war were the British Consols, some of which were the result of the refinancing of incurring debts during the Napoleonic Wars, but these were redeemed following the passing of the Finance Act 2015.
 
By the summer of 1940, the victories of Germany against Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, and Luxembourg brought urgency to the government, which was discreetly preparing for possible United States involvement in World War II. Of principal concern were issues surrounding war financing. Many of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's advisers favored a system of tax increases and an enforced savings program as advocated by British economist John Maynard Keynes. In theory, this would permit increased spending while decreasing the risk of inflation. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr. however preferred a voluntary loan system and began planning a national defense bond program in the fall of 1940. The intent was to unite the attractiveness of the baby bonds that had been implemented in the interwar period with the patriotic element of the Liberty Bonds from the First World War.
 
Henry Morgenthau Jr. sought the aid of Peter Odegard, a political scientist specialized in propaganda, in drawing up the goals for the bond program. On the advice of Odegard the Treasury began marketing the previously successful baby bonds as "defense bonds". Three new series of bond notes, Series E, F and G, would be introduced, of which Series E would be targeted at individuals as "defense bonds". Like the baby bonds, they were sold for as little as $18.75 and matured in ten years, at which time the United States government paid the bondholder $25. Large denominations of between $50 and $1000 were also made available, all of which, unlike the Liberty Bonds of the First World War, were non-negotiable bonds.[40] For those who found it difficult to purchase an entire bond at once, 10-cent savings stamps could be purchased and collected in Treasury-approved stamp albums until the recipient had accumulated enough stamps for a bond purchase. The name of the bonds was eventually changed to War Bonds after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, which resulted in the United States entering the war.
 
The War Finance Committee was placed in charge of supervising the sale of all bonds, and the War Advertising Council promoted voluntary compliance with bond buying. Popular contemporary art was used to help promote the bonds such as Any Bonds Today?, a 1942 Warner Bros. theatrical cartoon. More than a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of advertising was donated during the first three years of the National Defense Savings Program. The government appealed to the public through popular culture. Norman Rockwell's painting series, the Four Freedoms, toured in a war bond effort that raised $132 million. Bond rallies were held throughout the country with famous celebrities, usually Hollywood film stars, to enhance the bond advertising effectiveness. Many motion pictures during the time, especially war dramas (a form of propaganda itself), included a graphic shown during the closing credits advising patrons to "Buy War Bonds and Stamps", which were sometimes sold in the lobby of the theater. The Music Publishers Protective Association encouraged its members to include patriotic messages on the front of their sheet music like "Buy U.S. Bonds and Stamps". Over the course of the war 85 million Americans purchased bonds totalling approximately $185 billion.
 
Named after the 1942 Hollywood Victory Caravan, a 1945 Paramount-produced film promoted bond sales after the end of World War II. The short subject included Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Alan Ladd, William Demarest, Franlin Pangborn, Barbara Stanwyck, Humphrey Bogart, and others.
 
The National Service Board for Religious Objectors offered civilian bonds in the United States during World War II, primarily to members of the historic peace churches as an alternative for those who could not conscientiously buy something meant to support the war. These were U.S. Government Bonds not labelled as defense bonds. In all, 33,006 subscriptions were sold for a total value of $6.74 million, mostly to Mennonites, Brethren, and Quakers.