Philip & Pauline Selmonsky

 

Philip Selmonsky & Pauline Knyper Selmonsky

 

A story from PJ:

In September 1918, a massive World War I drive called the Fourth Liberty Loan Campaign was launched.  It offered 4.25% interest and raised ~$6.9 billion.

Unfortunately, in 1934 when the bond was due, the federal government defaulted – the only time in history – and refused to redeem the bond in gold.  Due to devaluation of the dollar, bond holders ended up losing 41% of the bond’s principal.