University of Virginia Library

First War Loan

The Victory Fund Drive, later known as the First War Loan,
brought 1942 to a close. It was carried on jointly by the local
city-county War Savings Committee, appointed by the U. S. Treasury
Department, which promoted sales of Series E savings bonds,
and by the Victory Fund Committee, appointed by the Federal
Reserve Bank, which promoted sales of securities other than E bonds.
Series E bonds were ten-year appreciation bonds issued at three-fourths
of maturity value. Both locally and nationally the drive
was a success. The division of responsibility led to some confusion
and makes it difficult to secure accurate and complete figures,
but there was less uncertainty here, where both promotional agencies
had enlisted William S. Hildreth to serve as chairman of their local
committee, than in many other communities. Between November
30 and December 31, 1942, the people of Charlottesville and Albemarle
County purchased $842,755 worth of government bonds.
Of this amount $106,668 represented purchases of E bonds, for
which there was a quota of $150,000. Purchases made by commercial
banks were excluded from the tabulation of these sales and
were never included in the sales credited to the community in later
drives. Nearly thirteen billions were subscribed by the nation as a
whole. This made a good beginning to the financing of the war.[10]