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(#11) This Man Is Your Friend
It seems absurd that Americans would have to be told who their allies were in the war against the Axis. But as late as the 1940s, there was anti-English sentiment in the US, while at the same time, there was little desire on the part of most Americans to go to war when the country wasn't directly involved.
Posters featuring English, French, and Soviet troops as men fighting for freedom were designed to make Americans open to assisting these nations down the road.
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(#6) Be Sure You Have Correct Time
Racist propaganda wasn't limited to the homefront. This American poster exhorted troops in the field to make sure their watches were synchronized using caricatures of the three Axis leaders, with Tojo made to look like a grinning monster and Mussolini looking something like a stereotypical African tribesman.
The enemy is inhuman, it says, and keeping correct time is just one more way to crush them.
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(#12) Fighting Filipinos
In the early part of the 20th Century, anti-Filipino sentiments ran high in the US due to the brutal Philippine Insurrection. The island nation's brutal subjugation by Japan shocked Americans.
Posters like this highlighted the courage and struggle of the Filipino people against the Japanese.
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(#1) Uncle Sam Wants YOU
Maybe the most famous recruitment poster in American history, J.M. Flagg designed the famous picture of Uncle Sam in 1917, based on a poster of British high-ranking officer Lord Kitchener. Flagg used his own face as the model for Uncle Sam and veteran Walter Botts sat for the pose.
It made the war a personal crusade, denoting that the US doesn't want someone else to fight, it wants YOU to fight.
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(#19) Lay-Offs Cost Lives
Attendance was crucial for war workers, and a worker who took a day off to sleep in wasn't just slacking, he was working for Hitler - according to this poster.
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(#18) Is Your Trip Necessary?
Another poster about the need for rationing fuel, in this case, because troop trains need it for movement across the country.
The message is clear: your trip isn't important, theirs is.
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About This Tool
During the Second World War, governments of various countries drew many propaganda posters in order to boost the morale and willingness of soldiers and people to join the army. Because the printing technology at that time was relatively backward, most of the World War II propaganda posters could not be printed in large quantities. It was only until the end of the 20th century that people were able to collect some posters left after the war.
The styles of these propaganda posters are very different, but they are all full of irony. The poster played a huge role in World War II, boosting morale and making people realize the importance of what every soldier and worker does. The random tool displays 19 World War II propaganda posters.
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