The economy was not doing well, soldiers were coming home with horrible PTSD and after-shock, the great depression was going on, etc. :)
Answer
Basically the pawnbrokers offered secured loans to individuals against personal property.
Explanation
Pawnbrokers are people being an individual or a business or an organisation who offers money as loans to people which is secured with an item or personal property is used as a collateral. whenever you pawn a property or an item it means that you are you are using it as a collatel. And the pawnbroker will agree to give you cash and hold your item until the time you will pay back as per the agreement.
<span>Based on what I know about the Cold War and the quote you gave above I would choose this option: It showed that democratic nations were facing a threat from Soviet expansionism.
Churchill had no plans to attack the Soviets or liberate these states. It was merely about pointing out the spreading of communism and that the western nations should join forces to contain it.</span>