US SAVINGS BONDS WITH JOHN WAYNE

 

Take Stock in America

Those of us who recall the Bicentennial can't help but acknowledge the national mood is greatly different in today's America. In 1976, John Wayne took to the airwaves to promote U.S. savings bonds, playing to both personal and patriotic motivation to make investments in government debt. Paula Cole asked "Where is my John Wayne?" in her 1996 song "Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?" and the role of a national hero like Wayne seems anachronistic in the current era, when radical opinion refuses to accept consensus as a matter of course. In any case, John Wayne's tagline, "Take Stock in America," was deft marketing.

Remarkably, there is no single, comprehensive guide to collecting U.S. savings bonds, unlike the well-known paper money references such as Newman (colonial paper money), Haxby (obsolete notes), or Freidberg (United States paper money). Such paper instruments are rapidly disappearing. This author acquired U.S. I-bonds some time ago, with interest tied to the inflation rate, and the transaction was fully processed online.

Link to "US Savings Bonds With John Wayne":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcAvFWhWBW4
https://archive.org/details/1976USSavingsBondsWithJohnWayne

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NEW BOOK: WORLD WAR II SAVINGS BONDS AND STAMPS (https://www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v14n13a04.html)
LOOSE CHANGE FOR WAR BONDS (https://www.coinbooks.org/v25/esylum_v25n17a07.html)

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