Existing comment:
On a windy April afternoon nearly a century ago, tens of thousands of Washingtonians heard the roar of airplane engines overhead. When they looked up, they say Allied biplanes engaged in a dogfight against German Fokkers. The aircraft rolled, looped, turned as they chased each other, diving low and skimming the trees along the Potomac River. But it was all for show. It was 1919, and the [sic] although war was over, part of the war effort was not. The federal government staged the mock dogfight as part of an ongoing series of spectacles designed to inspire citizens across the Washington area and around the the [sic] nation to open their wallets, and once again, but War bonds. The war still needed to be paid for.
At an estimated 32 billion dollars, the United States' participation in the First World War was the costliest military action the nation had yet taken. There were four "Liberty Loan" bond issues made in 1917 and 1918 in which American citizens were enthusiastically encouraged to buy bonds -- effectively loaning money to the government out of their own pockets. The bonds promised full returns with interest, which was tax free up to $30,000. |