Every American Should Buy War Bonds

IBM's 1943 National War Bond Advertisements
Date Published: September 15, 2021
​​Date Modified: June 29, 2024
 IBM's National Advertising to Support the United States' War Effort
In 1943, Thomas J. Watson Sr. and IBM ran well over 1,000 war-bond advertisements across the United States encouraging Americans to buy bonds to support the World War II war effort. This does not include an additional set of war-bond campaign advertisements that also ran across Canada.
To convey the level of commitment of IBM and its chief executive officer to supporting their economic system of capitalism and their democratic political system, the six individual war-bond campaigns are listed below:
  • THINK: April 12–16
  • Everybody's War: April 19–21
  • Invading [Europe]: September 8–10
  • Partners: September 14–16
  • Cairo and Teheran: December 9–13
  • Our Armed Forces: December 14–15
To assist the reader in understanding how critical the year 1943 was to the war effort and to set the context for these advertisements, a list of critical dates from World War II is included below the advertisements.
Select a link in the text below each individual advertising campaign to see a map of advertisements by location.
(To see details, a newspapers.com account is required.)
"THINK" war bonds advertising campaign from April 12 to 16 in over 130+ U.S. newspapers. *
"Everybody's War" war bonds advertising campaign from April 19 to 21 in over 140+ U.S. newspapers. *
"Invading" [Europe] war bonds advertising campaign from September 8 to 10 in over 140+ U.S. newspapers. *
"Partners" war bonds advertising campaign from September 14 to 16 in over 200+ U.S. newspapers. *
"Cairo and Teheran" war bonds advertising campaign from December 9 to 13 in over 150+ U.S. newspapers. *
"Our Armed Forces" war bonds advertising campaign from December 14 to 15 in over 275+ U.S. newspapers. *
* The number of newspapers is a conservative estimate as these are papers which are carried on newspapers.com, and it is apparent that the advertisements took longer to appear in some papers (outside the dates listed) probably because of normal processing delays for such massive, nationwide advertising campaigns.
 Critical 1943 World War II Dates: (these may not appear properly on a mobile device)
​January 3:
January 14-24:
January 18:
January 27:
February 2: 
March 1-4:
March 25:
May 12:
​April 12​–16
​April 19​–21
U.S. bombers attack German submarine base at St. Nazaire, France.
Roosevelt and Churchill meet at Casablanca.
Russians break German siege of Leningrad.
U.S. bombers in first all-American attack on Germany.
Russians turn back Germans at Stalingrad.
Decisive naval victory in Battle of Bismarck Sea.
Twenty-one percent of U.S. IBMers are serving in the U.S. armed forces
Nazis in Africa surrender unconditionally.
IBM War Bonds Campaign: THINK.
IBM War Bonds Campaign: Everybody's War.
July 10:
July 19:
July 25:
August 17:
August 27–28:
September 3:
September 8:
​Sep 8​–10
​Sep 14​–16
​October 5:
October 13:
November 22-26:
Nov 28-Dec 1:
Dec 9–13
​Dec 14​–15
December 24:
Sicily invaded from Africa.
Allies bomb Rome for first time.
Mussolini resigns as Italian Premier.
Roosevelt and Churchill meet for Quebec conference.
RAF devastates Nuremberg, Germany.
Italy invaded by Allied Forces.
Italy surrenders.
IBM War Bonds Campaign: INVADING.
​IBM War Bonds Campaign: PARTNERS.
​U.S. warships bombard Japanese-held Wake Island.
Italy declares war against Germany.
Cairo Conference.
Teheran Conference.
IBM War Bonds Campaign: CAIRO AND TEHRAN.
IBM War Bonds Campaign: OUR ARMED FORCES.
​General Dwight D. Eisenhower named European Supreme Commander
In 1944, IBM also ran advertising to keep up the morale of the United States and Canadian home fronts. That information is available here [IBM Keeps the Home Fires Burning: Supporting Home Morale].
In 1945, World War II came to an end, but paying for the war, taking care of returning veterans, and achieving a lasting peace still needed to be achieved.  Through his corporation, Tom Watson Sr. ran advertising campaigns to keep those at home aware of the price that still needed to be paid [Keeping An Obligation to Our Veterans and Their Dependents].
As always, if you or your family were in any way associated with these or other IBM World War II activities or have information you believe is valuable to understanding IBM and Thomas J. Watson Sr.'s contribution to the war effort, please contact us. 
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