Why We Fight

While the United States was spared the ravages of war and prospered in both conflicts, waging total war was nonetheless hard. To sustain morale, commitment to the war effort, and a willingness to sacrifice, the government mobilized the poster. Posters reminded Americans of the fundamental values of family, home and community, and the enduring principles of liberty, freedom of religion, and democracy. Posters detailed the threats to those values posed by enemies, frequently demonized as evil and sinister. Posters emphasized that Americans did not fight alone but with loyal allies and on behalf of victimized peoples. Appealing to emotions, often lacking in subtlety, these posters were central to the ideological mobilization characteristic of total war.

POSTERS

Ring It Again

Title: "Ring It Again/ Buy A U.S. Government Bond of the Second Liberty Loan of 1917. Help Your Country and Yourself"

Date: 1917

Sponsor: Ketterlinus

One goal of the Liberty Loan campaigns was to convince immigrants that they were now Americans and needed to give back to the country that offered them a chance at liberty. This poster drew on an obvious symbol to make this point as immigrants prepared to land in their new country.


V Invest

Title: "V Invest"

Date: 1918-1919

Sponsor: United States Printing & Litho Co.


Doing My Bit Four Years

Title: "Doing my Bit Four Years, Do Yours/ Buy Victory Bonds"

Sponsor: Victory Bonds


Lend the Way They Fight

Title: "Lend the Way They Fight"

Artist: E. Masche


Remember Belgium

Title: "Remember Belgium: Buy Bonds, Fourth Liberty Loan"

Artist: Ellsworth Young

Date: 1918

Sponsor: United States Printing & Litho Co.

Ellsworth Young (1866-1952), an illustrator for both the Chicago Tribune and the Denver Times and for numerous magazines, was also a landscape painter. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago with O.D. Grover and John Vanderpoel. With his noted WW I poster, "Remember Belgium," Young reminds the viewer of German barbarism. Drawing on Allied propaganda of German atrocities in 1914, Young silhouettes a German soldier, readily identified by helmet and mustache, against a burning city as he abducts a young girl. The viewer is invited to imagine the outcome.


Remember the Flag of Liberty

Title: "Remember the Flag of Liberty. Support It!"

Date: 1918

Sponsor: Heywood Strasser and Voigt Litho Co.

The government was eager to use posters to educate a polyglot population about the values of America as well as seeking to convince those with deep roots in this country that the current war was being waged in defense of fundamental principles. This poster, simple in design and straightforward in message, does both. 


Buy Liberty Bonds

Title: "Buy Liberty Bonds"

Sponsor: American Litho Co. 


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