Hollywood celebrities Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charles Chaplin, and Marie Dressler ride in horse-drawn carriages in a military parade to launch the Third Liberty Loan Drive, in Washington DC. United States Army troops parade behind them. Policemen on bicycles, accompany them. Crowds of spectators line the sidewalks of Pennsylvania Avenue to watch. The U.S. Capitol can be seen in the far background. The parade turns left on 14th Street. Change of scene shows the four celebrities mobbed by fans, on the street. Fairbanks and Chaplin wave their hats. All shake hands with enthusiastic spectators. Next, Douglas Fairbanks is seen standing above the crowd encouraging them to buy Liberty Bonds. Closeup of Mary Pickford in the crowd. Marie Dressler is seen above the crowd adding her encouragement for Liberty Bond sales. (World War I; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
Charles Chaplin giving an impassioned speech to sell bonds during the Third Liberty Loan campaign, in Washington, DC. He then conducts a military band (unseen). Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks each make their appeals to the crowd. (World War I; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler and Douglas Fairbanks during Third Liberty Loan Drive in Washington DC. Chaplin and Dressler perform a comic tango, as an Army band plays music. Fairbanks harangues the crowd, good-naturedly, to to buy bonds. sells some bonds to several pleased-looking women. Pickford, a bunch of orchids pinned to her waist, sells bonds to the crowd. (World War I; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
U.S. Navy sailors parade along Pennsylvania Avenue to launch the Fourth Liberty Loan Drive in Washington DC. The U.S. Capitol is seen clearly in the background. A tall sign is seen above the skyline, advertising Kelly Springfield tires. The parade continues past the Post Office Building on the South and the Willard Hotel to the North, and turns North on 14th Street, with a huge brass band playing near the front. A few people ride in a bus festooned with flags and signs reading "Fourth Liberty Loan" and "Buy Your Bond Today." Marchers are seen passing the State, War,and Navy Building, (Old Executive Office Building) at Pennsylvania and 17th Street. (World War I; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
Launch of the Fourth Liberty Loan Drive in Washington, DC. U.S. Navy Brass band entertains crowd of thousands gathered around the William Tecumseh Sherman Monument and equestrian statue in Sherman Square near the Treasury Department at E and 15th Streets. The Washington Monument can be seen in the distance. John Phillip Sousa, in uniform of Navy Lieutenant Commander, conducts the band in front of the Treasury Building. Secretary of the Treasury, William Gibbs McAdoo and his wife, Eleanor Randolph Wilson McAdoo, stand with John Poole, Treasurer of the Washington District Council of Defense, at a bunting-covered step at the front of the Treasury building. McAdoo gestures with his hat as he speaks, encouraging the crowd to buy Liberty Bonds. He is joined by Sousa, who points a few times at elements of the band (unseen) below. The camera pans across the crowd. Sousa is seen below the steps, again, conducting the band. Scene shifts to McAdoo on the Treasury Building steps. He pulls his hat down on his head. Sousa, again, stands beside him. They shake hands. Scene shifts to side view of the Treasury Building steps, where Vice Admiral William Sowden Sims, Commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe, is seen speaking to the assemblage, which includes a number of U.S. Army soldiers in uniform. (World War I; World War 1; WWI; WW1)
Fifth Avenue, in New York City, decorated with American flags, Fourth Liberty Loan banners, and flags of Allied nations, from 51st Street to Madison Square. Japanese flags are on buildings. Military units march along 5th Avenue to the Altar of Liberty, designed by Thomas Hastings, that is the focal point for the 4th Liberty Loan Campaign. Flags of the 22 Allied Nations fly on poles at Madison Square. Vice President Thomas Marshall stands on sidewalk by the Altar of Liberty with several officials and an Army chaplain in uniform. A contingent of Belgian Army officers marches followed by U.S. Military officers and diplomats and officials in automobiles. The Belgian officers greet civilian officials. Civilian officials gather and converse. Officials assembled on balcony of the Altar of Liberty. New York Governor, Charles S. Whitman is in center, to right of the Army chaplain. Another view of balcony, with Vice President Marshall present. Map of war zone on the Altar of Liberty, painted by H.T. Schladermundt. (It will be updated daily as the war progresses.) Governor Whitman introduces the Vice President, who looks at his watch and gives his address. The next speaker introduced is Emile De Cartier, Belgian Minister to the U.S. whose country is the first to be honored at the shrine.