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Wartime Propaganda

George Creel, who headed the Committee on Public Information during World War I, considered posters crucial for wartime communication. “I had the conviction,” he wrote, “that the poster must play a great part in the fight for public opinion. The printed word might not be read, people might not choose to attend meetings or to watch motion pictures, but the billboard was something that caught even the most indifferent eye.”

During World War II, film clips, leaflets, and radio were also employed, but posters were still considered effective tools of propaganda. Much of the poster art emphasized the unembellished photographic imagery and simple texts favored by commercial advertisers at the time. Some posters, instead of exploiting sentimental themes related to the family and American values, featured renowned military leaders who could unite home front and battle front with a single authoritative voice.

                
  You Are Wanted by U.S. Army poster   Pershing’s Crusaders poster  
  You Are Wanted by U.S. Army
John J. Pershing 
K. M. Bara, c. 1917
Color lithographic poster
106.7 x 72.5cm (42 x 28 9/16 in.)
National Portrait Gallery
  Click to enlarge image Pershing’s Crusaders
John J. Pershing
H. C. Miner Lithography Company, 1918
Color lithographic poster
200 x 104 cm (78 3/4 x 40 15/16 in.)
National Portrait Gallery
 
           
  Victory Begins at Home   Above and Beyond the Call of Duty poster    
  Click to enlarge image Victory Begins at Home
Admiral William F. Halsey Jr.
Unidentified artist for Industrial Incentive Division, Navy Department,  c. 1940
101.7 x 76.1 cm (40 1/16 x 29 15/16 in.)
National Portrait Gallery; gift of Leslie, Judith, and Gabri Schreyer and Alice Schreyer Batko
  Click to enlarge image Above and Beyond the Call of Duty
Dorie Miller
David Stone Martin, 1943
71.2 x 51.4 cm (28 1/16 x 20 1/4 in.)
National Portrait Gallery
 
             
  Pvt. Joe Louis Says   Poster image    
  Click to enlarge image Pvt. Joe Louis Says— .
Joe Louis  
Unidentified artist for Graphics Division, Office of Facts and Figures, 1942
Color photolithographic poster with halftone
101.5 x 72.3 cm (39 15/16 x 28 7/16 in.)
National Portrait Gallery
  Click to enlarge image Combat America
Clark Gable
Unidentified artist for the U.S. Treasury Department, 1944
Color photolithographic poster with halftone
81.6 x 61 cm (32 1/8 x 24 in.)
National Portrait Gallery; gift of Beverly Cox
 
     

 

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