"Shall we be more tender with our dollars than with the lives of our sons?" W.G. McAdoo, Secretary of the Treasury: Buy a United States government bond of the 2nd Liberty Loan of 1917

During World War I, the governments of belligerent countries issued bonds as a way to borrow money from its citizens in order to finance the war effort. The United States called these bonds Liberty Bonds. The bonds were issued four times during the war and a fifth time as a Victory Bond in 1919. Subscribing to the bonds became a symbol of patriotic duty. The government put on a massive sales campaign including posters, celebrity endorsements, air shows, stickers, and buttons to pressure the public into purchasing the bonds. Although individuals purchased war bonds valued between $5 and $100, half of the total sum was sold to financial institutions. The campaigns were quite successful raising $17 billion for the war effort.