Whip Inflation Now

Plastic "WIN" sign
The WIN form was made available on the day of Ford's Whip Inflation Now speech. It read "Dear President Ford: I enlist as an inflation fighter and Energy Saver for the duration. I will do the very best I can for America." The form was mailed to the president and the sender would receive a WIN button.[1]

Whip Inflation Now (WIN) was a 1974 attempt to spur a grassroots movement to combat inflation in the US, by encouraging personal savings and disciplined spending habits in combination with public measures, urged by U.S. President Gerald Ford. The campaign was later described as "one of the biggest government public relations blunders ever".[2]

People who supported the mandatory and voluntary measures were encouraged to wear "WIN" buttons,[3] perhaps in hope of evoking in peacetime the kind of solidarity and voluntarism symbolized by the V-campaign during World War II.

  1. ^ "Ford Calls for Action on Many Fronts to 'Whip Inflation Now': Sign Up, Free WIN Button" (PDF). Watertown Daily Times. Associated Press. October 9, 1974. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 13, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2012.
  2. ^ CRUTSINGER, MARTIN (2006-12-28). "Ford's WIN Buttons Remembered". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2017-07-09.
  3. ^ Cormier, Frank (Oct 10, 1974). "WIN buttons in high demand". Associated Press. Retrieved 11 January 2010. [dead link]