World War 2 Poster Analysis

During World War II, propaganda was an ideal and important part in making American citizens boost much production upon war efforts, at work, and at home. Most propaganda within the U.S. followed six main themes that were controlled by the Office of War Information, or the OWI, that helped make citizens on the home front become more active in helping the war. These six themes that the posters followed were: The Nature of the Enemy, The Nature of our Allies, The Need to Work, The Need to Fight, The Need to Sacrifice, and lastly The Americans. Each encouraged people, in their own ways, to aid in any way they can with the war, and the most convincing was inside of the work place, where many American went during the war. Many posters conveyed

the message that “… Americans must work if we are to win the war, in factories, on ships, in mines, in fields, etc.”(Every Citizen a Soldier by William L. Bird Jr. and Harry Rubenstein) and encouraged many to work, in regards to the theme, The Need to Work. Three posters, the “Soldiers Without Guns”, the “Warning! Our Homes Are in Danger Now!”, and the “Help Win the War, Squeeze in One More”, convinced many to work because of the encouragement of minorities, the defense of our country, and convincement to always do more at work. Each of these posters was able to spread their convincing message onto American citizens successfully and made them want to help in any possible to help win the war in the work place.
The need for workers was in high demand as the U.S.

started to produce more and more, and many men that worked in the factories were drafted into the army, leaving open jobs. With such high demands came propaganda that would call for one unlikely group of people, who were believed that their place was inside the home, women. One poster that delivered “The Need to Work” theme greatly and was able to be “… shouting at people from unexpected places with all urgency...” (Every Citizen a Soldier) was the “Soldiers Without Guns” poster. This poster depicted three strong and proud looking women who work attire for jobs usually given to men, such as welding or a factory job. The poster successfully encouraged women to take on such jobs because if the ladies in the poster were able to look this strong and have such equality, then any women could too. When it depicted the equality for women, it pushed other women to go out and find work because that was one thing wanted during that time. The propaganda successfully conveyed a convincing message because women would see it and be drawn to the idea of the equal opportunity for jobs and fill the much needed openings. These jobs that needed workers to aid the war effort eventually were filled up by millions of women, “…the female percentage of the U.S. workforce increased from 27 percent to 37 percent, and by 1945 nearly one out of every four married women worked outside the home.” ( www.history.com). The need for work was not

just limited to just men anymore but to the woman, and this piece of propaganda demonstrated this in an encouraging tone. It made women want to go work in these high worker-demanding jobs, such as the production of bullets or guns for war, because the poster was able to promote of a sense of equality. The women within the poster spoke to many women throughout the country and drew them into the working place to help the war
With a growing threat of our enemies, uncertainty with any more surprise attacks, and the high worker demand present, the need for workers to produce more war essentials was necessary. America needed to produce more bullets, make more planes and tanks to keep a strong offense and defense against the impending enemies. A poster that showed this demand for workers to produce these necessary war essentials and demonstrated the “The Need to Work” theme was the, “Warning! Our Homes Are in Danger Now!” poster. The poster portrayed two men, Hitler with a gun in hand and Japan with a knife in hand, who seemed to be creeping up on America to attack us at any moment. The poster was able to deliver a tone of urgency for people to get up and help with the war effort because it made people want to prevent this picture from happening. This poster a delivered a message on the poster that said “Our Job—Keep ‘Em Firing”, which gave people the motivation to go find work, in jobs that produced the bullets and planes, to keep our army “firing”, to keep our enemies away. The poster helped many men and women realize, to keep their home safe they had to keep the American army stocked with all the ammunition, guns, or planes that they needed, and they did this by taking up the many needed jobs to do so. From 1939 to 1944 the number of aircraft production increased by 94,177, by the end of the war 41,000,000,000 pieces of ammunition were produced, and 12,500,000 of rifles produced (http://www.nationalww2museum.org). These numbers were able to become what they were because of the poster was able to push people into work and it made people want to help produce the necessities necessary to help defeat our enemies.
Many propaganda posters throughout the U.S. called upon many people who were not in the army risking their lives would be able to go to work and help in that way as best they could. The posters convinced them that if they were to go to work, that was a big contribution to help winning the war. One poster who called on people to work and portrayed the “The Need to Work” theme was the “Help Win the War, Squeeze in One More” poster. The poster depicted 26 men and women in one car going to work singing, “Hi ho! Hi ho! It’s off to work we go!” who looked very cheerful and happy. The poster portrayed an encouraging tone that made want people want to go to work because the people depicted in the poster were so happy to. Also it successfully convinced people to go to work because it called on people who might be home to go to work. It made people feel as if they were the deciding factor in the win or the loss of the war, which portrayed the importance of work throughout this war. As well it called upon national unity throughout the country, because it encouraged many men and women to call upon others to come to work and “squeeze” maybe one more shift or an extra day of work, to help bring our country to victory. “During the war 17 million new civilian jobs were created… productivity increased by 96 percent…” (www.prospect.org ), numbers of jobs were created to be able to help win this war and even more numbers of people were there working in these jobs. This poster was a supporting reason why so many people went to work and why so many jobs were created, it was able to successfully call on people to see the importance of work to win the war.
In conclusion, the need for work during this war was satisfied with the many propaganda posters that were created during this time.

Work was an important factor, at this time, of whether we could win the war or not. Three important posters successfully convinced the public in deciding to go to work because of the open opportunities in work for women, the production of war arms to protect our national security, and of the encouragement that working would help win the war. These three posters were the “Soldiers Without Guns”, the “Warning! Our Homes Are in Danger Now!”, and the “Help Win the War, Squeeze in One More” and they each convinced our nations at this time the importance of work. Propaganda had a big impact during that time to help mobilize our nation and show them the “The Need to Work” was just as important on the home front as it was being out there on the battle field. Together Americans, with the help of these three posters, found the many countless ways why work was so significant in the aid to winning this

war.