Powers of Persuasion

Excerpts from U.S. National Archives Exhibition
Washington, D.C. -- May 1994 to February 1995

For full exhibit, click here.

Guns, tanks, and bombs were the principal weapons of World War II, but there were other, more subtle, forms of warfare as well. Words, posters, and films waged a constant battle for the hearts and minds of the American citizenry just as surely as military weapons engaged the enemy. Persuading the American public became a wartime industry, almost as important as the manufacturing of bullets and planes. The Government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign to galvanize public support, and some of the nation's foremost intellectuals, artists, and filmmakers became warriors on that front.

	Guns, tanks, and bombs were the principal weapons of World War II, but there were other, more subtle, forms of warfare as well. Words, posters, and films waged a constant battle for the hearts and minds of the American citizenry just as surely as military weapons engaged the enemy. Persuading the American public became a wartime industry, almost as important as the manufacturing of bullets and planes. The Government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign to galvanize public support, and some of the nation's foremost intellectuals, artists, and filmmakers became warriors on that front.

Man the Guns!

Masculine strength was a common visual theme in patriotic posters. Pictures of powerful men and mighty machines illustrated America's ability to channel its formidable strength into the war effort. American muscle was presented in a proud display of national confidence.

Man the Guns--
Join the U. S. Navy
by McClelland Barclay, 1942
Produced for the Navy Recruiting Bureau
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-44-PA-24)

Keep 'em Fighting
Printed for the National Safety Council, Inc.
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-44-PA-1171B)

Get Hot--Keep Moving
On the back of this print is inscribed "Bridgeport Brass."
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-179-WP-1256)

It's a Woman's War Too!

In the face of acute wartime labor shortages, women were needed in the defense industries, the civilian service, and even the Armed Forces. Despite the continuing 20th-century trend of women entering the workforce, publicity campaigns were aimed at those women who had never before held jobs. Poster and film images glorified and glamorized the roles of working women and suggested that a woman's femininity need not be sacrificed. Whether fulfilling their duty in the home, factory, office, or military, women were portrayed as attractive confident, and resolved to do their part to win the war.

Victory Waits on Your Fingers
Produced by the Royal Typewriter Company
for the U.S. Civil Service Commission
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-44-PA-2272)

Longing Won't Get Him back Sooner . . .
Get a War Job!
by Lawrence Wilbur, 1944
Printed by the Government Printing Office for the War Manpower Commission
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-44-PA-389)

We Can Do It!
by J. Howard Miller
Produced by Westinghouse for the War Production
Co-Ordinating Committee
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-179-WP-1563)

Of all the images of working women during World War II, the image of women in factories predominates. Rosie the Riveter--the strong, competent woman dressed in overalls and bandanna--was introduced as a symbol of patriotic womanhood. The accoutrements of war work--uniforms, tools, and lunch pails--were incorporated into the revised image of the feminine ideal.

This is Nazi Brutality

Many of the fear-inspiring posters depicted Nazi acts of atrocity. Although brutality is always part of war, the atrocities of World War II were so terrible, and of such magnitude, as to engender a new category of crime--crimes against humanity. The images here were composed to foster fear. Implicit in these posters is the idea that what happened there could happen here.

This is Nazi Brutality
by Ben Shahn, 1942
Printed by the Government Printing Office for the Office of War Information
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-44-PA-245)

Lidice was a Czech mining village that was obliterated by the Nazis in retaliation for the 1942 shooting of a Nazi official by two Czechs. All men of the village were killed in a 10-hour massacre; the women and children were sent to concentration camps. The destruction of Lidice became a symbol for the brutality of Nazi occupation during World War II.

We French Workers Warn You . . .
by Ben Shahn, 1942
Printed by the Government Printing Office
for the War Information Board
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-44-PA-246)

The Sowers
by Thomas Hart Benton, 1942
NARA Still Picture Branch (NWDNS-44-PA-1966)

Artist Thomas Hart Benton believed that it was the artist's role either to fight or to "bring the bloody actual realities of this war home to the American people." In a series of eight paintings, Benton portrayed the violence and barbarity of fascism. "The Sowers" shows the enemy as bulky, brutish monsters tossing human skulls onto the ground.

Citations and Credits

All posters used in the Powers of Persuasion exhibit were made from the original posters in the custody of NARA's Still Picture Branch at the National Archives at College Park, MD. A NARA identification number appears at the end of each caption.