Naval History and Heritage Command

In order to fund the enormous cost of America’s participation in World War I, the government asked its citizens to buy Liberty Bonds – basically a loan to the federal government to be repaid with interest.  Over 20 billion dollars was raised in this fashion, funding two-thirds of the cost of the war.  Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo stated “We went direct to the people, and that means to everyone-to businessmen, workmen, farmers, bankers, millionaires, school-teachers, laborers.  We capitalized the profound impulse called patriotism. It is the quality of coherence that holds a nation together; it is one of the deepest and most powerful of human motives.”