Jerry Sanson
Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum
April 2026
Louisianians on the home front during World War II supported the war effort in many ways. Some joined Civilian Defense and scanned the skies on the lookout for enemy aircraft over their neighborhoods. Others supplied labor to farmers who desperately needed it to produce agricultural products for the war, or they tended their own Victory Gardens to help ease their family’s burden on the national food supply. Still others joined in scrap collection drives either by contributing unwanted metal or organizing the metal collected for pick up.
The federal government financed the war through the familiar formula of taxes and borrowing, and that approach provided yet another way that Louisianians contributed to the war: war bond and stamp drives. In addition to borrowing through traditional methods of government finance, the federal government revived a practice from World War I and sold relatively small denomination bonds to individuals and thus tapped into a useful source of money while encouraging a sense of patriotic support for the war effort.
The first-of-seven war loan or war bond sales drives began in 1941 before the Pearl Harbor attack and sold “defense bonds and stamps.” Storeowners made space in their stores for bond sales, newspapers published editorials supporting sales, Tulane University students held a “Blackout Ball” featuring a one minute “lights out” every fifteen minutes and used proceeds to buy bonds.
Later bond sales followed a pattern developed nationwide. The beginning effort appeared in newspapers with articles and advertising urging people to buy bonds, business and civic organizations lent support and volunteers to sell bonds. The military contributed to the effort by exhibiting equipment purchased with previous bond sales proceeds or staging mock invasions of public spaces to demonstrate use of the equipment.
Celebrities came to Louisiana to boost bond sales. A list of some of the famous faces that came to the state includes Laraine Day, Andy Devine, Fred Astair, Cary Grant, James Cagney, Lucille Ball, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Betty Hutton, Greer Garson, Robert Young, Gypsy Rose Lee, and Harpo Marx. A “Cavalcade of Stars” Rally in New Orleans during the Third War Loan Drive reportedly drew over a hundred thousand people, each of whom had to present a receipt proving that they had bought a war bond during the current drive for admittance.
The federal government also boosted bond sales by staging “invasions” demonstrating the use of equipment bought with previous bond sales. About six hundred soldiers “invaded” Canal Street in Infantry Day ceremonies promoting Fifth War Loan bond sales in New Orleans. A bond sales event in New Orleans City Park Stadium in 1942 displayed jeeps, motorcycles, trucks, and howitzers. Live demonstrations included flame throwers and tank destroyers. Baton Rouge witnessed a staged “invasion” of the LSU football stadium during the Fifth War Loan Drive and an attack on Harding Field during the Seventh War Loan Drive. Alexandria experienced an “invasion” by Camp Livingston soldiers using Higgins Boats in the Seventh Drive.
Louisianians responded to these efforts, and Louisiana War Finance Committee chair Leon Tujacque announced in August 1945 that the state substantially exceeded its quota of bond sales in each drive by the following approximate amounts:
Bond Drive Louisiana Sales Over Quota
1 $ 3,500,000
2 $29,000,000
3 $16,000,000
4 $31,000,000
5 $40,000,000
6 $36,000,000
7 $66,000,000
The War Stamp sales collection book in the Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum demonstrates how easy the federal government made bond purchases. If a person could not afford to buy a War Bond, they could purchase a War Stamp for 25 cents and paste it in their War Stamp book. When they filled the book, they could exchange it for a War Bond.