Contents
Introduction
The Campaign
July 1942: America At War
Organizing The Campaign
The Magazine Publishers
The Treasury Department
Award-Winning Designs
History of the Motto
Magazine Cover Gallery
After July 1942
Behind the Designs
The Flag In World War II
Search the Covers
About The Collection, Resources, Credits
Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Behring Center
About The Collection Resources Credits
July 1942: United We Stand
Organizing the Campaign
Next
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The magnificent scattering of flags which you see on the newsstands this Fourth of July didn't just happen because a lot of magazine art editors chanced on the same idea at the same time. It was a patriotic conspiracy. - Liberty, July 11, 1942 MacNamara and Morgenthau with covers
 
The “patriotic conspiracy” to put the flag on the magazines was a collaboration between the National Publishers Association (now the Magazine Publishers of America) and the U.S. Treasury Department. For different reasons, both saw the campaign as a valuable opportunity.   Paul MacNamara (left), representing the National Publishers Association, presents copies of the flag magazine covers to Treasury secretary Henry Morgenthau Jr. in Washington, D.C., on July 24, 1942.
Courtesy of
Mark MacNamara
 
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