 U.S. WWII Schools at War Scrapbook | |
| Duration | 1942–1945 |
|---|---|
| Location | Washington, D.C. |
| Type | Government program |
| Theme | "Save, Serve, and Conserve" |
| Motive | World War II fundraising and other support |
| Organized by | |
| Participants | 200,000 schools, 30 million school children |
| Outcome | Raised over US$2 billion |
| Jeeps sponsored | At least 90,000 |
| Airplanes sponsored | Several thousand |
The American Schools at War program was a program during World War II run by the U.S. Treasury Department, in which schoolchildren set goals to sell stamps and bonds to help the war effort. The program was also administered by the U.S. Office of Education, the Federal government agency that interfaced with the nation's school systems and its thirty-two million students. The Office, however, allowed the Treasury to work with the schools directly as the main objective of the program was raising money.[1]
Planning for the program began before the December 1941 United States declaration of war on Japan. It started in earnest with the 1942–1943 school year. Students were taught that they could support the war effort in several ways. Their most important contribution was financial. Students bought war stamps and bonds with their spare change or earnings. However, more significantly, they were a sales force of millions selling to their families, neighbors, and communities. By the end of the war, they had raised over $2 billion (equivalent to $34.6 billion in 2023).
Schools at War supplied literature to teachers and posters that encouraged all aspects of the program. Individual schools were incentivized with a special flag to reach 90 percent student participation. School sponsorship of a particular item, such as a jeep or airplane, motivated sales. Tens of thousands of jeeps and hundreds of planes were "bought" under the program.