The WWII Posters

     On January 6, 1941, President Roosevelt addressed Congress with his "Four Freedoms" speech.  This inspired Norman Rockwell to create a series of paintings with the "Four Freedoms" theme. The paintings were the center of the war bond drive and helped explain the war's aims.

     While the war against the enemy was fought with guns, tanks and bombs, the posters were created to try to convince people the government was right and to motivate the whole nation to support the war effort with all available resources.

     Not only was red, white and blue used on the posters to promote
 patriotism, but American heroes and familiar national symbols were also used. To show strength, some were designed using muscles, tools and artillery.
    
To try to prevent complacency with the unromantic visions of war, there were posters using images of the human cost of war, corpses, bloodshed and even gravestones. 
    
     There were posters enticing women to become nurses or encouraging them to work in the war production plants building tanks, planes, guns and making ammunition, etc. 

     Then there were posters with many goals and themes, which included the selling of war bonds, boosting production "We Can Do It!" , warning the public of the consequences of leaking information "Loose lips might sink ships," images of history and some used slogans which became quite familiar. "Grow your own, Can your own"

     Hundreds of posters were commissioned by both the Government and private businesses, with many of the artists being anonymous. Millions of copies were distributed across the nation.

                                   "I WANT YOU For the U.S. Army!"

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