While I loved the film, I did find the whole "America's broke and ready to quit the war aspect" puzzling. Especially with all the rationing and scrap metal drives that went on. Guess I'll have to read the book to find out if "we're broke, we quit" angle is in there, too, or what. The official's whole speech about needing them to get money for the war made it sound like Democrats know how to sell the war and Republicans don't.
Exactly. The bond drives were to control inflation, not to raise money per se. But we WOULD have the money, one way or another. Our productive capacity had just geared up in 1944, producing more than 100,000 airplanes a year, 30,000 tanks a year, and four fleet carriers per year. I know they needed a "dramatic hook," but the notion that America's fate rested in the hands of three "star" heroes doing war bond drives beyond silly.