Transcripts For CSPAN3 Lectures In History American Cartoons In World War II 20240713

Look at the place where the the socalled socalled real world real world comes together with the cartoon and comic comes together with the cartoon and world comic world and that is why the. That is title of today why the title ofs todays class class is is bombs and bonds and taxes taxes. American cartoons american cartoons and and comics comics during during world war ii world war ii. I. I can remember can remember from my from my days days in chapel and Chapel School school, where our pastor, our gave us pastor something that gave us stuck with me ever a sermon that has stuck since. With me ever the lesson of since and the. It draws from two parts. Lesson drawstring two parts two separate to separate biblical biblical texts texts and one is. One is from from second kings if youre second kings, if you are interested chapter interested. For where chapter for, where the profit the profit eli shut elijah, not eli, not eli gia jean but eli has somebody shia, had somebody bring him 20 loads bring him 20 loaves of barley of barley and hes and he has got to feet got two feet 100 men 100 men. The servant asked him and they how are we going to ask him how are we do that weve only got going to do 20 loads of that barley . And the and the profit profits says give says, give them to them to the men the men that they that they may eat meet for the and thus says the lord says the lord they shall they shall eat and eat and have have some some left left so so, he, he said it before them said it before them and they ate and they hate and they had and they had some some left. Left as the lord told him this is what the lord told them. There is an incident there is an incident from from the the new testament new testament where where jesus jesus is is confronted confronted with with a crowd of a crowd of people. People 5000 people our going to feel these, how we feed all these people . People . One of his one of his disciples says disciple heres a young bully, with says, here is a young boy five barley loaves and two with five barley loaves and fish. To fish not a lot. Not a lot it could take six months worth of pay to feed the crowd of 5000. All we have is five barley lives and to fish. Shes a said, bring it up. It could take like six he gave thanks to months of pay to feed the it and the whole crowd of 5000. Crowd jesus said, bring it up. He gave things to it, and was fed and there was the whole crowd was fed and more than enough. There was more than enough. I remember my i remember, my pastor pastor saying, it saying, it does not matter does not matter how little you are, you can be a little guy, and i was a how little you are. You little guy, you can be a can be a little guy. I was not a little child, boy, girl, it does not guy. You can be a child, you matter, when there is a need, can be a boy, a girl, it doesnt matter. When there is a need if you bring your little bit, if you however little bit you might bring your little bit, however little bit you might have have, god will use that to, god will use that to meet you need. And he was trying to tell us that it did not meet the need. Matter he was trying to tell us, how little it did not matter, how little we had. We had. If we use it faithfully, if we use it to a righteous cause faithfully for a righteous cause it will help a big need, to be met. It will help a big need to be met i have been thinking about that lesson, for a long. I have been time as ive been thinking about that listen contemplating what are we for gonna talk about, in terms of a long time as i have been contemplating, what are we going to world war ii and paying for talk about in world war ii. Terms of world war ii in the days of world war. In the ii the need was indeed great. Days of world war ii, the need was indeed Franklin Roosevelt as gray. President made a number of frankly, roosevelt speeches to the american as president made a number of people and the freaks weeks speeches to the american right after the attack in people in the weeks pearl harbor and one thing he right after the attack of impressed in the american pearl harbor and one of the things he people, was that everybody, pressed upon the American People was that rich, poor, old, young, did everybody, rich or poor, not matter had a role to pay old or young, play a very important one. It did not matter, had a role to play, a very Important Role in getting this in getting monumental job done of paying this for the war, and winning the monumental job war. Done of paying for the war and im giving you an expert winning the war. I will give you an excerpt of his state of the union of address from 1942. The state of the union of address from just a few sentences that 1942. Just a few sentences will encapsulate what he was that will talking about here. Encapsulate what he and how he was urging all was talking about, americans to do their little and how he bit. Was urging americans to do fdr came before congress, their little bit. Fdr came before congress and before the American People on that occasion, and he said and before the American People on that occasion, and he said, war, cost money. War costs money jean. So far so far, we have hardly we have hardly even begun to pay for it. Even begun to pay for it we have devoted only 15 . We have devoted only 15 of our of our National Income to National Income National Defense. To National Defense as it will appear in my budget message tomorrow. As well appear in our war program for the my budget message tomorrow coming fiscal year, will cost, our war program for the coming fiscal year will cost 56 billion. 56 billion dollars. Or in other or, in other words more than half of the estimated words, more than half of the estimated annual annual, National Income. National income. That means taxes, and that means taxes and bonds. Bonds, and bonds and taxes. And bonds . And taxes. It means cutting it means cutting lot luxuries luxuries, and other and other non nonessentials. Essentials. In in a word, it means an a word, it means an all out all out war, by individual war. Effort, and family effort, in by individual effort and family effort a united country. In a united now, when he was talking about individual effort, and country. Now when he was talking about family effort he was talking about kids as well. Individual effort and family effort he was talking about kids to. Family effort meant that even if you were over family effort meant that even if here on you were over here, on the home front, and your loved the home front, ones were fighting overseas and your loved ones or over there as the popular fighting overseas over song went, there was still there work, that you could do to, there was still work that you could help to defeat the enemy. Do to help defeat the enemy everybody, both young and. Old and no matter how much everybody, both young and old, no matter you have or dont have, had a how much you had or did not have very Important Role to play. , had a very Important Role to play in the United States war effort. In this roosevelt wanted to make United States war effort. A very, very sure that and everybody was clear about that. Roosevelt wanted to make very very sure that everybody was clear about early in that new year of that 1942, United States treasury early in that new year of is already going to work, 1942, the United States treasury is trying to figure out how to already going to work, trying to figure out how to get americans to pay for the get americans to help pay for war the war. Now roosevelt was about talked about talked about taxes taxes, and bonds, and bonds, and bonds, and bonds and taxes. And taxes. We know what taxes are right . We know what taxes are, right . Its when the government it is compels you, to pay certain when the government compels you part of your income, to meet to pay a certain part of your income the cost of government doing to meet the cost what it has to do. Of government doing what it has to do. But what are bonds . But what are . Bonds a bond is an i owe you. Write that a bond is an i owe you, down. And i write that down and i owe you, its a statement that owe you is a statement that the United States government the owes you money. United States Government owes you money for so basically what uncle sam much. Was doing was saying, we will basically, what uncle sam was doing was saying, we are going to have people pay us taxes to pay for have people pay us taxes to this thing pay for this thing, but, we, but will also have to go into we also are going to have to go debt to pay for this thing. Into debt to pay for this now, a show of hands, how thing. Now, food show of hands. Many people have some sort of how many people have some sort of United States saving bond . A few United States savings . Hands. How many people have been bonds . Given Something Like that for a birthday, or a graduation or something of that kind . Right . How many people have been given Something Like that for it is a birthday or graduation or a very something of that kind . , very right . Important looking piece it is a very, very of paper that is interesting looking piece of paper that is not a toy. Not a toy. You open the card. It is not a toy, but it is a very official looking piece of paper with very official you open the historical looking card, its a very official people on it. Looking piece of paper and what your parents have what your parents may have to to explain to you is that it is a u. S. Explain is that it is a u. S. Saving bond, savings bonds, which means, which means you keep you keep it, you dont do it, dont anything with it for a while, do anything with it for but in a few years you will a while, be able to cash it, and get but in a few money so you can pay for your years you will be able to cash it and get money so education, this, that that, wet . You can pay for your important things is an education, for this, for that, for important. Thinks it is an investment in the future, by investment in the future by having uncle sam go into debt having uncle sam go into debt to you. To you. Okay . Okay . That is that is a savings bond. A savings bond. What the with United States United States treasury decided to do was treasury, decided to do, was to initiate a savings to initiate a savings bond bond program specifically for the program specifically for the purposes of collecting money for the war effort. Okay purposes of collecting money. For the war effort. How much . Okay, how much . Well, you well, you can get a can get United States savings bond at a United States saving bond that time for as low in the at this time amount as 18. 75. For an amount as low is if you gave United States 18 dollars and 75 cents. If you gave the United States of government 18 dollars and 75 cents and said i want to buy a bond government 18. 75 and that, and you wait you want to buy a bond, and you waited several years for that want to mature, it would give you back, 25. Is not a bad deal home . Home . You get 25 back years later but the slow lending uncle sam money, to win the war. I dont know about you, several years for it to mush mature, it will give you back 25 dollars. Not at that, deal . You put out 1875 you get 25 back years later. But this is all in but what if youre a little lending uncle sam money to win the war. I dont know about you, but what kid in 1942 . If you are little a little kid with his kid in hands in his pockets and one 1942 . A little kid with his thing that i have in his hands and his pockets. What he does not have in his pockets is 18 dollars and 75 cents pockets is 18. 75. Because remember 1942, because remember, 1942, were just coming out of the were just coming out of Great Depression. The Great Depression. So so, am i out of this what . Am i out of this . Am i out of great state in the u. S. This great crusade, and the government says no, you can United States government says no you are not. Buy something called united you can buy something called states savings stamps. , United States United States savings saving stamps. Stamps . Yes, this is what you United States saving stamps . Yes. Would do, you get yourself a heres what you would do. You would get Little Green Book like this. Yourself a little green in that Little Green Book like this. And book, you would place every in that Little Green Book, he would place time you would go and buy every time you would go and buy u. S. U. S. Savings stamps, what are you talking about stamps im saving stamps, what are you talking talking about stamps like about . Im talking about this. Stamps. Like this you could get these they. Would sell these they would sell overthecounter at banks, these over and other institutions, its the counter like okay, all i have, is . 10 its not much and they at banks and other institutions. And you say all i have is say thats okay its enough, ten and ten cents. Thats not much. They would say that is okay. That is enough. Because for ten cents, watch this. For because for 10 cents watch ten cents, you this, for . 10, you can go can go ahead and buy one u. S. Savings defense ahead and buy one usa savings stamp. Defense stamps. Okay. How does okay . How does that help . That help . How does that helps because you get help this Little Green Book, your . What how that stamp book you put the stamp, helps as you go to your right in here, maybe you have stamp book, the stamp right in here, and another stamp 80s to get maybe youve got none other stamps in the past and you stick it right there and there, these stamps, watch the stamps these stamps are various. Watch this. Denominations some of them the stems were from various denominations, some are . 10 on the dollar, some are a dollar, somewhere ten cents, and you get them, you get them, you of them . 50 and you get get them and you them, get them, get them and philip book full of you fill the book full, when them. And when it comes it comes up to 18. 75, you out to 18 dollars and walk over to the place with 75 cents, you walk that 18. 75 you can buy over to the place and with that 18 dollars and 75 cents you can buy yourself a war bond. Yourself a war bond. Those of you that are now those of you who are matt experts are going to realize that ten cents its going to take you a lot of time to buy enough saving stamps for 18 dollars and 75 cents. That is why the stamps came in various denominations larger than that. Math experts, you will realize that one dollar, its gonna take you a lot five dollars, things like of time to buy enough savings that. But what if you stamps for 18. 75. Are strictly that is why the stamps a ten cent kind came in various denominations of person larger than that a dollar, five dollars and like that. . Its all right. But, what if you are what it did strictly at . 10 kind of was person . What it did was, and we, as we are will see, the cost of a comic going to see. The book and was . 10. Cost of a comic book back then was action comics number one, ten cents. Superman, it has at . 10 action price sticker on it. Comics number one, first appearance of is worth a whole lot more superman now. , a ten cent price sticker on it. But . 10 then. Its worth a whole lot more than that now. If you only have . 10, if this is what you do, you you only got ten cents, heres what you do. You might might spend one dime on a spend one time comic book, maybe another on a comic book dime on Something Like a, maybe another dime on Something Else, like cookie or ice cream and then a cookie or a screen, another dime, you would spend but another dime on this. You spend what you did, is you had on this. But what you did is you have friends, i bought superman friends. I for . 10, you may have bought brought superman for batman. Ten cents. You may have bought back man. You may have bought wonder women. What we would do is swap and trade, see . What you may have bought wonder woman. What we would do, is swap is happening and trade. , even on the see . Whats happening even on level of the little kid a level of a little kid and and his friends his friends are her friends is that, it encourages kids is that it encourages kids not to spend not to spend every dime they every have. Dime they have but, but some of them, but away. To put some of it away. Into u. S. Defense saving he into u. S. Stamps. Defense savings stamps. With this did a monthly merit of the u. S. Save in savings bond what this did, among the merits of the u. S. Savings bonds program, was it program was that curb inflation. Because its happening, it curved deflation, because what is happening is is that when people are not that, when people are not spending all the money they spending all the have, it puts a cap on money they have got, it puts inflation. A cap on things. World war ii was inflationary time, and it world war ii was an inflationary time and it reversed the deflationary process reversed the deflationary program of the great of the Great Depression depression. So its one thing to have d a little bit of inflation to. So it is one thing to get over the Great Depression have a little bit of but you dont want to much in inflation to get you the way to do that is to over the encourage americans to keep Great Depression but you do not want to, the money in their pocket. Much and the way to do that is to encourage americans to keep some money in their pockets. Or save it. Or save it this book, and and this book and other other books like it. Books like it we they represented you see putting money away, lending represented putting money away. Lending it to uncle sam to help with the war. You are not it to uncle sam to help win spending it on stuff. The war, youre not spending and that, it on stuff. That, over time curbs overtime curbs Inflation Inflation among kids, and among kids and they are asking adults to do the same. Think there would be some payroll savings where you dont get your asking adults to do the same complete paycheck. You let part of thing. That paycheck go for buying more bonds and things, see . So that is what the war bonds and Stamps Program is about. There would be payroll that is what it is savings where, you dont get about. When you your complete paycheck, you say are part of that paycheck goal for war bonds and things by defenses like that. Bonds and so, that is what the war stamps that is what bonds and the Stamps Program it is about. Is about. If you are not rich that is what it is about. Enough to buy a full so when you say defense bonds for by bonds and stamps that is 18 dollars and what it is about if you are 75 dollars not rich enough to buy a full go collect some bond for 18. 75, then go stamps. Ten cents apiece, collect stamps . 10 apiece, a dollar piece of five dollars five dollars apiece until you save apiece, until you save enough enough to buy to buy a bond. A bond. Okay, everybody clear on okay everybody, what the defense bonds and Stamps Program was about . What the defenses bonds and stamps and how whether you are for when it was about. And how rich, poor, adult or little weather you are rich or poor kid, you could participate. Or little kid of course, the government, you could participate. We did not hesitate to say you and of course, the government did not hesitate to are doing your part, you may pay you doing have a brother, an uncle, your part. You may have parent, overseas fighting, a brother, you can do a little bit for an uncle apparent, overseas fighting. You them. Can do a little bit your little bits, is able for. Them you are a little to help in this great bit is able to help with this great endeavor. Selling its bond today, scrape out the most you can, here comes the freedom man to buy your share of freedom today. Bond stands today, in the usa, sammy my uncle sammy, here comes the freedom man, to buy a share freedom today sam, by a bond today. Look at that. I want you to seize your attention on the image here. For the defense by the United States saving bond, and stamps. U. S. Treasury this is a minuteman soldier, this is from the revolutionary war days. They said, you know we have to impress upon you some people that this world war ii that we are involved in now, is just as important a fight for freedom is independent as a revolutionary war in 1776. If you want to be in that grand tradition of the patriots of 1776 when you have to do your part for defense and by United States saving bonds and stamps. This was a very prevalent symbol, around the country. Advertising the need, to buy savings bonds and stamps here it even made its way, into the first issue of wonder womans own magazine. This is a panel, from a story of the end of the story of one of the adventures wonder woman have in wonder woman number one. And wonder woman said, when you see these minutemen posters, boys and girls remember, hes talking to you. So yes the superheroes that we have been sending, a number of days in this class researching the origins of, and getting the background of, they too are joining in this effort. I will tell you something. It is not as if the comic book company was just well, lets slap that in there. No, there was cooperation with the u. S. Government because the back cover, the back cover of wonder woman number one, was dedicated, to the boys and girls of america from the secretary of the treasury himself. A special message to the boys and girls of america from henry Morgan Powell junior. Secretary of the treasury. You see the letterhead here the secretary of the treasury in washington. Boys and girls of america, here is a way for everyone of you to help your country. Every time you buy a saving stamp, you are helping uncle sam to pay for a part of a gun, plane, or ship. With your fathers, brothers, or uncles, they are using it for the defense of the country. If every one of you, 40 million boys and girls, would buy at least one . 10 saving stamp every week, you would be lending your uncle sam, 200 million every year. Think, of all the guns, planes, and ships he could buy with that. Remember, you can help to keep them flying, by buying a defense stamp every week. Sincerely, henry junior. Is a minuteman symbol again, right on here it says this is donated by the publishers of the magazine. In the interest of National Defense and victory. Okay . It costs of course the company was dc comics, they had some levels to his organization at the time, was the there was the National Comics wing that gave the superman, batman aquaman, and green air arrow and then there was the allamerican comic wings that give us wonder woman, the flash, blue lantern, a number of other heroes. But the two companies were very interrelated. They were very close. And, these are the publishers that said, lets donate the back cover, of the first issue of wonder womans own magazine she appeared of course an allstar comics number eight, and then her first cover appearance sensation was comics number one 1942, they said she is such a runaway hit we will give her her own magazine. First edition of her own magazine, they are donating space to tell every boy and girl in america to buy defense savings bonds and stamps. This is serious stuff. This is serious stuff. Its serious, because, beyond enjoying the adventures of wonder woman there is really something you can do to be a hero lets look at a few other covers. Now here, we have worlds finest comics. You will notice a few things. Number eight winter issue a superman dc publication, right . You have superman, and batman and robin, handing out things that kind of look like these books these little, green box. And, these pages of stamps. That is what they are doing they are handing these out. But, what are superman and batman and robin doing . Why are they doing this . What are they doing this under the sign of . We said theres racism in a bugs bunny cartoon, they are underneath the big sign that says sink the japanese with bonds and stamps. When you start taking the names of peoples nationality and making puns out of them youre kind of dipping into racism as well. You think sometimes how would you feel if you happen to have been an american of japanese descent and really wanted to help, and you really like superman comics and batman comics and he really wanted to buy those bonds and stamps, but like one of the people on this cover youre walking up there and thats the sign they have . Imagine if you are a kid in the real world . And that is what they are saying on the cover . No. It tells you a bit about what was acceptable back then. You see on the rest of this cover, you have lot, and lots of kids. Batman, robin, superman are handing out these booklets. In the state. But, unfortunately they are also handing out morsels of racism. One shine example i dont think so. Heres an issue of action comics this is a magazine that introduced superman in the first place. This one is number 58. Worlds largest selling comic magazine and the reason why it is, is who is depicted here in the corner of superman. It is superman, is in the middle the big printing press. This huge big press more importantly, the basements of dc comics or something in this organization are you have these huge gigantic presses and they are printing out pages, and pages and pages like a factory. So, this is depicting superman, Strong Enough to run the presses by himself, and what notices he running out . Superman says, you can slap a with war bonds and stamps and as you can see in this cover there is a number of copies of that brochure that superman is printing out. Its not just a oneshot deal. Want to show you since we are in action comics a couple of threedimensional examples. I have a copy here of action comics number 50. The 50th issue of action comics Worlds Largest selling one superman is saving minors and what an ipa disappear . As if you look at the lower lefthand corner, it has a small picture of superman walking in between two servicemen. It says, superman says, by defense stamps, helped National Defense. So even if it was not the main part of the cover, the message would still be put someplace on the cover. You know what hit people, the Young Audiences effectively because these messages were placed on the cover of the Worlds Largest selling comic magazine. This one here, back the attack with war bonds was another famous one. It didnt involve, but characters but it was the famous phrase the attack has it rhymes. And we will take a look at captain america. It says i want you to buy war bonds now and we will get to him in a bit. I wanted to show you or tell you a little personal story that filled or sowed the seeds and how i got interested in the stuff. Because of me years ago when i was a little kid, it was my 10th birthday. My 10th birthday, i got a retrospective book of batman and robin stories. I was excited. I stand corrected this will show you how much of a geek i am. My cousin got me the batman encyclopedia the christmas before. It was my aunt who got me the retrospective book of that man on my 10th birthday i am sorry. So by the time i was 10 years old i got these two big batman books, im reading them and im studying them and everything. One of the books had a whole gallery of batman covers from the 1940s. And hes punching the joker and fighting the penguin, dealing with catwoman, and he has a first batman cover and then he had the first robin cover, all those things, all those characters that i liked reading about and then in the middle of it was discovered. Batman and robin, seem to be interrupting their adventures to sit on top of a giant bird. What is going on here . Are not fighting the pink when . Its not about the pink win. What is this all about . And what are they saying here. Theres a few planes if you look at the back. Is batman and robin, they have their fingers up in the v for victory sinuses keep the American Eagle flying, buy war bonds and stamps. Okay that sounds good keep the American Eagle flying yes, but what is a war bond . And why buy a stamp . All i knew about stamps was the Little Things you put on the top of the envelope, when you are writing your thank you notes to your cousin and aunt for giving you this wonderful batman book. Thats what i knew about a stamp. In the context of the war and i knew this was from the wartime period, i had to find out what is a war bond . What is a stamp in this context . And why did batman and robin interrupt their adventures, this is not the joker or paying when her to face her catwoman. To sit on top of a big bird, and tell their readers to do that . In order to keep the American Eagle flying. It is because of this. Is because the need is great. The need is great and even if youre a little kid and you just have a little bit, you can do something to help. If you dont have enough to buy a bond you can buy one of the little ten cent stamp, for the cost of a comic book. Instead of buying batman and superman, just by batman, and then use the other dime to buy a defense savings stamp. Keep the American Eagle flying. I said wow, thats heavy stuff of batman and robin, wow . Theyre getting involved in the war in the war effort. There other ways as well. Remember roosevelt key expert i read for you said, it also means cutting luxuries. And other nonessentials. Sacrifice. Doing without an order to further a greater cause. And what the kids of america were asked to do to the costumes and comic books was not just to spare an extra dime for war bond and stamps, it was to buy the stamps of the goodbye war bond, they were also asked to do without other things. Like paper, lets take a look. Like paper. Heres a cover, were superman, batman and robin are pushing a huge truck failed, filled with paper. What is a sign that robin is carrying . It says. Fight paperweight and hang one on the paper hanger of berlin. What they are doing is taking a dig at hitler personal biography. Hitler had been or done a number of things before he became a dictator he was, a wannabe artist, he was a house painter, he would also hang up paper. For various places. So, anything the government or cartoonist could used, to make a verbal job at hitler, and also promote, the war effort, they would do it. That is where you are getting this phrase of hang one on the paper hanger of berlin. The thing is, fight paper waste, now, americans dont waste how to we waste paper . Well back then, before tv you got your news to the newspaper. You got a lot of your female famous comics from as well like the tracy little orphan annie and supermans adventures as well what you do after the next day . You heard that phrase yesterdays news . And this is where i get the line from its yesterdays newspaper what you do with yesterdays newspaper . You throw it out . Not so fast. Paper is used for a lot of things. You can use that wastepaper, to help the war effort. Inside this very comic book, look at the theyre going to show a young person in gotham city how. This was a oneshot, one page story that makes the case for saving paper. And it starts like this. Paper, paper everywhere. With rich to stop the faux. Paper, paper everywhere, and none to waste that comes from the rime of the ancient samuel coleridge. Water, water everywhere. How many people heard that poem . Okay, read that poem. This is a nice, little pun on that poem. Okay whats happening in gotham city . It says its a busy day for alfred, butler extraordinaire to bruce wayne, alias batman and robin. A kid, comes up to alford and says, hey alfred, where you going up all that junk . And alford is a replying junk . These are weapons of war my boy. The weapons of war the kid says what . Alford says, this is no jesting matter if you dont believe me, just tag along and see. And they walk off, they walk a block or two. They happen to come upon his employer batman and robin who are collecting stacks of paper from kids in the neighborhood and theyre throwing them in a truck. The kid is saying batman and robin, what are they collecting all that wastepaper for . And alford replies, because we have a paper shortage, due to lack of manpower in cutting timber, used in paper production. Does everyone have that . Lack of manpower, because they been dropped off to fight the war see dont have people to cut down the trees, and we dont have people to cut down the trees you have less trees being turned into paper, see you have less paper, that equals a paper shortage. Okay . Then the kid says paper shortage . You mean, we might not be able to read our favorite comic magazines . Hes bringing it home here to where it really hurts. And alford says you gotta hand it to alford. He knows just how to say it right oh, but by salvaging all this wastepaper, we provide a substitute. And we will have sufficient supplies for both civilians, and military purposes. And the kid replies, military . There you go again, what does paper have to do with war weapons . And alford says, its used to make parachute, wingtips, and other military objects. Containers for shells, commie rations, and various other essential supplies are made from paper as well. The kid didnt know that. And alford says everybody can help. They can help by using paper sparingly. And by collecting waste paper, you can sell it to a dealer, or a Charitable Organization like the red cross, or to your school. And the kid says, okay, let me help right now. He takes a big pile out of alfords hands, and he carries it himself. Alford is very impressed he says i seem to have been very persuasive, and the kid says dont worry alfred, i will collect plenty of paper myself from now on. And help bob hitler on the nose. Do you see how this one page story, draws a connection . It draws a quick connection between turning in wastepaper and bopping hitler in the nose. The emperor of japan at the time they got this thing into punching hitler in the nose and will get to that a little bit. I want to show you a few other people into this. Take a look at this one. Number six. Here we have wonder woman again. Pushing the express wagon and she is accompanied by her friend the golden age 1940s version of Green Lantern, and the flash. How many people, have seen the latest liveaction tv show . Okay. That with the hat we used to call him the flash with the hat when we were kids. He was the flash of the golden age the 1940s. Always used to wonder, how can he run so fast without losing his hat especially on a windy day with the wind generated by him running so fast. But he could do it. Because hes the flash. Do you see . And with Green Lantern practice i was wondered with all the different colors in his costume, the purple cape, the redshirt, the red and yellow boots why does he call himself the Green Lantern . He could have picked a whole bunch of different colors. While the ring was green and the lantern was green. Okay. Like superman and batman and robin, will wonder woman kept her basic appearance that she still recognizable. To people who might not recognize the other two. You notice the three superheroes are leading a crowd of kids, i will zoom in and out at the same time. Notice they have a crowd of kids and theyre all doing what . They are all carrying big stacks of paper. And, wonder woman is pushing a wagon filled with big stacks of paper. So she has is wagon and all this papers tied up. The sign over here drive the point home and says world production, urgently needs wastepaper. They are not very subtle about it. This tells you Something Else as well. It tells you, why comics from the world war ii period are so rare and scarce and if you have a mint condition copy of a golden age 1940 comic book, you can sell it for a lot of money. It is not so much the age of the comic book, is part of it but the scarcity. Because as one writer put it the kids reading these comics back in world war ii days were so good and so faithful about turning their wastepaper and after they finish reading them. So many of those comics were destroyed. See . That is why the comics were so scarce because they were destroyed by the kid to finish reading it, shared with your friends now they took it and put it in one of these bundles and turned it into the government so they can use the spare wastepaper. Everybody see that . I remember, in 1989, batman movie, and all the batman hoopla that came out of that. I remember a lot of people got into their heads if they started saving those comics from 1989, 1991, that they too could make a lot of money in 20 years. And it didnt quite pan out that way. You know why . Because we were not doing this anymore. Probably if you buy a comic now, and save it, it will probably not be the next action number one. Or the next detective comic number 27 or even the next amazing fantasy number 15 which introduces spiderman. Remember we say detective 27 was the first appearance of batman. It is probably not going to be that. You can save it if you want, you never know. If people count on that they will be very disappointed. Are so valuable, if you have a good or mint condition copy is because so many of them were destroyed in the paper drive. Okay, does everybody see that . They were sacrificed to a larger purpose. I, sometimes, i was born in queens and grew up in queens, manhattan. One of the things i loved was looking at things from the 19391940 worlds fair. That seemed to be so cool. And, i wish they would have kept the trial on, which was the big pyramid and the big globe. I wish they hadnt have melted it down, so i could see it. Do you know why the melted it down . , for a bigger purpose. It was melted down for war materials. The same with these old comic books. They were destroyed for a bigger purpose, because it was a generation of kids and their parents who said, whatever little bit i have, even if i have two sacrifice, i am going to give that up for the bigger purpose. We have a war to win. If we dont fight this war, there may not be a future. For people to look back from. This is more than just the funny books. This is really serious stuff. Okay, we have talked a lot about dc. Lets get more into marvel. We did talk about marvel the last couple of classes. Marvels first two big characters were the submariner and the human torch. Incidentally, the title, submariner was borrowed in part from that poem i told you about before the rhyme of the ancient mariner, water water everywhere, not enough to drink. Fire and water, and they would fight. Their first big superstar character, the one that really put them on a map in the way they had quite been before was of course, captain america. We have talked about captain america as the symbol of fighting the axis even in the time before the United States officially entered world war ii. How many people have seen captain america, the first avenger . Okay. Which is good, because i am going to show you a little excerpt of it. And, i am not going to feel so bad that i cant show you more of it right now. Because, most of you have seen it. I want to draw your attention to one particular part. Just before he goes out in what he considers the fellow said listen bonds buy bullets and bullets kill. And he draws that connection. And when he goes out there with that shield and he is reading all of his lines, he is talking about the connection between buying a bond and helping your loved one overseas. This is a representation, i would say of the reallife struggle that the captain america comic magazine was helping to wage. Okay . Lets show the excerpt. Then, i will show you a couple other comics. You buy bonds, and bonds buy bullets. And bullets kill. Not all of us can drive a tank, but there is always a way we can fight. Series ee bonds, each one is a bullet in the barrel of your bond. Wait, what poster are they posing in front of . That that is right. This is a takeoff of the famous uncle sam poster that says, i want you. That was done during world war i and was used again very effectively during world war ii. But, here captain america is saying i want you to buy war bonds now. Many of you have seen this movie, and you know that as part of his war bond drama, his part of the routine i will say. He wasnt dancing in it, but it was the act. There is a guy who portrays hitler. And, at the appropriate moment captain america turns around and punches hitler in the phase. If you look at it closely, it inspires a cover of a comic book. This comic book. Captain america number 1. Now, this is the actual real captain america number 1. It came out long before the attack on pearl harbor, and we talked about in class that joe simon, jack kirby, the people who produced what would later be called the Marvel Comics line of comics. They had a number of names back in the day. Timely, atlas, etc. , etc. They said, you know we are trying to make a statement against the isolation. Lets just make our separate American Peace with hitler, so he will leave us alone. We dont need to get involved in the world. Lets just leave hitler alone and he will leave us alone. The poster said, when did hitler ever leave anybody alone if he had a chance to invade them . No, we need a hero that will express the need to fight hitler. There was a concern, because hitler was a dictator that might get killed at any time. That by the time this comic book hits the stands, that hitler might already be dead. And, they felt that might not be the worst outcome. Lets put the comic out anyway, whether he is alive or dead by the time hits the stands. But, if you look at the captain america movie again, there is a lot of comics of hitler being punched in the phase. With the move did was put hitler in a fictional situation. That explains why this image became so popular. In action comics number 1, he really does lift up a car and smacks it against the cliff. But, in captain america is that not true that he couldnt get that close to hitler . Because, the war would already be over with. What they did was say, this is a representational cover and the moviemakers came up with a real reason that inspired him. Does everybody see that . Lets look a bit at captain america cover. Which in and of themselves were pieces of propaganda. You see, when you went to the newsstand to buy comics, the cover was so important because it is the first thing that met your eyes. And captain america comic was a masterpiece of propaganda. And he likes punching the enemy in the face. Case in point, captain america number 13, the first captain america issue that came out after the attack on pearl harbor. He is punching a japanese warlord and saying, you started it. Now, we will finish it. And you notice on the top lefthand corner, it says all out for america issue. There is a special urgency, because now we are at war. Lets open this comic and see what it says on the first page. By the way, down here it says, remember pearl harbor. Which is kind of hard to forget at the moment, when this comic was published. Lets open up the cover and lets look at the first page. I will zoom in here. Captain america, new, different, exciting. Number 13, who is the editor . Stan lee. I told you that mark goodman was ahead of Marvel Comics or the company that would become Marvel Comics. And, a distant relative of his who was just a kid at the time comes to marvel, he is hired to basically be a gofor. And what is a gofor . Go for this, for that. Sweep the floor, refill the ink, little rinkydink jobs like that. The guy got paid. And overtime, as simon and kirby moved on to other things and other features, and as other people working at marvel were drafted into the army, stan lee becomes the only guy left in the office. Sometimes, working for a Small Company can help you out if you are the only guy left in the office, because at that very young age, guess what . He is the editor. Stan lee would later say, it was supposed to be temporary while everybody else was at the war. It turns out the temporary job i had for 30 years. Lets look at this page a little more. What is at the center of the page right in between captain america and bucky . What is this in the center . That minuteman image for defense, buy United States saving bonds and steps. It is right there front and center. And, bucky is even saluting it. There is Something Else here, too. Way down here on page 57, after you have finished reading the adventures of captain america and bucky, we have a character called the secret stamp. Meet americas newest hero, as a young United States defense agent in the first of many thriller minutes true to life adventures. How many people here have heard of the secret stamp . I didnt think so. I hadnt heard about the secret stamp before i got into comics. Who is the secret stamp . Why are they not going to make a movie about him . The secret stamp is a kid on a bicycle who puts on a mask and has a cape and he sells or bonds and stamps. But, he got the governments attention. Lets turn to page 57 of this comic book. Let me zoom in. There he is. There is the kid, the bicycle, and what is that button he has . It says, official u. S. Defense agent. But, what is interesting about this last page about the secret stamp is that the last page, in addition to the big minuteman image here is also dedicated front and center to a letter to stan lee from the United States Treasury Department on december 2, 1941. That is a week before pearl harbor. And let us see what it says. Mr. Stan lee, editor captain america comics, 330 west 32nd street, new york, new york. Dear mr. Lee, we welcome the opportunity of congratulating you on the patriotic thought behind your new adventure comic strip, ronnie holt, u. S. Defense agent. Remember, roddy colt is the civilian identity of the secret stamp. You cant forget that. We like the idea very much. And believe such a strip will be effective in connection with the plan promoted by Newspaper Publishers now reaching national proportion, to sell defense saving stamps through approximately 500,000 loyal, Young American newsboys from maine to california. Sincerely yours, director defense saving stamps, treasuring department, washington, dc. Holy cow. This guy got the government attention. Take the opportunity to buy some of these. These are on kindle and ibooks. You can get a lot of golden age comics for just one dollar just by reading these. It is not sad, the secret stamp. He is a kid who is mad when bullies knock over a bicycle and take all of the defense stamps for themselves. What does he do . He puts on a mask and a cape, and he gets on his bicycle and he goes after them. He even gets the time at some point in the plot to call the police. I am always concerned about this kind of thing. It is like, you cant just put on a mask and cape and get on your bicycle and go after . The guys could be dangerous. But, the message got through, that selling u. S. Saving bonds and stamps was an important thing and you were working with and for your government when you did it. And that somebody who tries to rob and steal them, really was a crook. Not just against the person he stole it from, but against the government. And the point got through. Apparently, the point got through very, very well. Because, with each passing year, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, americans kept buying bonds. There were different loans. The second war loan, then the third war loan, and the fourth war loan, etc. It was called the mighty seventh war loan. The idea was, and this may shock you, that if you begin to see good news in the newspaper about the war, this is not the time to sit back and say, okay, it is over. I wont buy so many defense stamps. They didnt want you to do that. They didnt want you to do that at all. They wanted to make sure that people kept it up. I am going to play the song, sung by the legendary bing crosby about how, in the latter days of the war americans were still urged to keep it up. Keep it up. All right. I am going to turn this up. People are very fond of my colorful speakers. I am going to turn it way up. I hope it doesnt blow anyones hearing away. It shouldnt. But, the song comes under the title, buy, buy, buy bonds, which is pretty easy to remember. Here we go. Buy, buy, buy a bond. And byandby the bond will bring you victory. Buy, buy, buy a bond. And you will be standing by the victory arch when johnny comes marching home again. So, you will need no request. For after all, you know that you are investing in the rest. Until the lads come back again, buy, buy, buy bonds. This is no time to say you have done enough. This is the time to really do your stuff. And even if you cant be a soldier in the ranks, you can be the guy that helps to buy the guns and planes and tanks. This is the time for you to do your best. This is no time for you to take a rest. The enemy is reeling, and his morale is low. And now is the time to fall in line and deal the final blow. Eye, buy, buy a bond. And byandby the bond you buy will bring us victory. Buy, buy, buy a bond and you will be standing by the victory arch when johnny comes marching home again, oh you should be not needing a request, for after all you know that you are investing in the best. Until the lads come back again, back to attack again, buy, buy, you think the message got through . Oh yes byebye by a bond. Just because the war seems to be going our way, it does not mean you can slack off. And actually after the war was one, and that hard port victory the United States Treasury Department continued to advertize you are saving bonds and stamps as a way to financier education. To finance a home. To finance civilian things you wanted as an important way to save money. As of 2012, you cannot go to a bank or other over the counter institutions, as they say, to buy bonds, but you can buy them at the u. S. Treasurys online website, treasury direct. Gov. Now people have been asking, why arent u. S. Savings bonds and thinks of that nature as popular now as they were back in the days of world war ii . One of the reasons that, for some of the bonds, you are not getting any interest. It is zero or it is 0. 3 . It does not seem like it will give you much anymore, not like if you put 18 dollars and 75 cents and get back 25 dollars. You are not having that so much. Some people are nostalgic. You dont have that physical thing anymore. You can print it out, you can go online and you can buy the bond and print something out. You can stick that in your nieces or nephews birthday cards, but it just doesnt seem the same. The government has been saying that by this continuing the paper bond, we are saving a lot of money regarding the cost of printing the paper bonds. So that is a thought. But some of the romance is gone. The romance is gone. Some people particularly, i can identify with this to. I am of a generation that grew up before the computers, before everything was online. They might find the online buying of bonds just a bit cumbersome. It is not as easy as walking up to a place and maybe some celebrity might be there to give you one of these books and give you a set of stamps. It is not like that anymore. It is kind of impersonal. But the big reason, is that people dont see it as much of an investment i. Want to ask you this. I want to ask you this. After i do this im going to open up for questions. Doctor taylor, im more interested in ace and cues then cues and eight. Question. Does our government need money today, yes or no . Yes. Right . So why dont we have bond campaigns like we were talking about over todays class for other purposes . Health care, what else . To lower the deficit. There are places where you can contribute to the government to lower the deficit, sure you can do that. But where are the celebrities . Where the cartoon characters . Where are the songs about buying bonds . Where are people saying, hey, whatever you can give it will help. I am saying, whatever the Economic Conditions that may or may not may u. S. Saving bonds as attractive to americans on the street as they used to be. What about the idea of connecting a great cause to and individuals purchasing of savings bonds. What happened to that . Could we do that again . And so if so, what caused this . I would like to open it up for questions. Do anybody have some ideas . You have to wait for that microphone. Would anyone like to take a crack at, why dont we do this anymore . This could be fun. Go for it. Eu is it possibly because there isnt as much patriotism with it . While we are still fighting in iraq and afghanistan, there isnt as much of a greater threat, as there was back in world war ii with the nazis and the japanese . I dont know. I think people would argue that the threat levels are just as high in our post9 11 world. But, you are not the first person to think about what is happening to patriotism. What is happening to the would it be something about how paying money towards the government is somehow viewed as a socialist effort that people are now completely turned off from . It has to do with what do americans think about socialism and capitalism and all the other isms. Is it not good anymore to pay money to the government . I want to throw in a related question on this for you to think about. Are americans more gung ho about paying taxes today . What about that . What about getting a cartoon out there to help americans feel better about paying their taxes . Wait for the mike. I was going to say, society is different and people are more selfish today. People are more selfish today. Yes, they are not willing to do those type of things anymore. It is a different era. I think that is why. That is sad. But, it is a reality. Why are people more selfish . What do you think . It is all about me . I mean, arent there plenty of things to get excited about in terms of helping others . What happened to that . Is it because there is a lack of trust towards our government, that they will take our money and do the right with it . Now, this is something you have hit upon. In the wake of vietnam and watergate there is the idea that the government may not always be as trustworthy with the people. They may not tell the entire truth and you might not be able to trust everything you hear from the reporters. There was an aura around the presidency during world war ii. That is part of it, that there is a mistrust of government. But, maybe that mistrust is against the American Interest when it comes to not being a part of bond drives and savings drives. Is there a way to rebuild that trust . What do you think . What do you think . Hey, i am taking my aquaman break. Or, my submariner break. I should be part bipartisan. One character here, one character there. One company here, one company there. One has to be bipartisan. Okay, but the one thing that both dc and marvel and all the other cartoon and comic companies had in common, was that when Something Like world war ii came up they all pitched in to help all joking aside on that, they all pitched in to help. But, is there a great cause . When was the last time you picked up a comic book or saw a cartoon that talked about a cause in the real world . The real world, two syllables. Is it all just escapism now . Back then, did you notice something . It was escapism, but also relevance. A relevance that said, when you finish reading this comic, and all your friends finish it give it to the government to help the war effort. Do you want to hit hitler on the nose . Help captain america do that, buy u. S. Savings bonds and stamps. What happened . Think about it. Think about it. Large distrust was built after the events of watergate. I remember when i took the presidency course with you. When Abraham Lincoln said something no one questioned it. Somebody will have to question now and again, but the masses believed in their president. You are saying there was an understanding. Yes, there was an understanding. Like, they are trying to help us. That was the mentality. But, like vietnam and watergate, as time went on, do you know what i mean . There was a split between the people and the government. I think that is why people right now, if you ask any young person that doesnt know more than just a decent amount of history. But they might not be in history classes and they might not want to be affiliated with politics, the majority of people say they dont know what is going on. Like, they just dont want to hear about it. They dont want to hear what is going on in the government. Because, in the eyes of the masses, the government doesnt care. They are out just for personal gain. And when they do this, that is whatever happened to the superhero approach . That the government was a hero . I feel like nowadays people have a distaste for helping the government, because they dont really want to help a government they dont agree with. So, the government seems to need to get the image of being a hero again. How do we do that . Isnt there an issue now that we would never be able to get away with publishing a superhero punching another leader in the face . That, we would view that now as poking the bear, rather than as a nationalist or nationalism pushing forward of something. Instead, it is dangerous almost and we are more likely to make fun of a crisis then at about it. That is going to be part of it. And, when we look at what happened to comics in the rest of world war ii and in the future, because we are getting towards the end of our class today. I want you to think about something. How did the image of the government change, and much more how did the image of the superhero change, and the idea that comic books were good for kids in the first place . What happened to that idea as we move out of the 40s and intothe 50s . We will be looking at a lot of different issues that we explored today as the calendar moves from one year to another and one decade to another. But, we will have to pick that up time. So, i will see you then