Government Bonds

Greetings,
How about our government kick starting the Space Program by
reinventing itself?
I am reading "Flags of Our Fathers" by James Bradley. The author
does a great job putting life back into old memories. A section of his
book covers the 7th Bond Drive (the last) of 1945.
The government needed to raise 14 billion dollars to fund the
last of the war effort. 4 million volunteers worked to set up the drive
and the bond tour took almost a year to pass through the larger city in
the United States. The bulk of the volunteers were located and
participated in each of these cities.
The government received 26 billion dollars from the efforts of
those volunteers. Granted it was a very unique time when America acted
in the best interest of everyone.
To refresh your memories, a War Bond was $18.75 and its pay back
was $25.00 in ten years. Could one of you number crunchers do the
inflation factor on this. 26 billion dollars of 1945 money is worth how
much in 2004 dollars? What would the cost of a 1945 bond at $18.75 be
now?
Could Federal Leadership and our nation act in the best interest
of everyone again and float a SPACE BOND? What are the legal issues
(could they do it)?
Steve