Topic: Potent Pictures: Propaganda Posters
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Posters were one of the most prevalent means of communicating propaganda messages to American citizens during World War II. Because they were inexpensive to design and print, posters could reach a wide audience with specific messages. Government posters—typically printed in the millions—were by far the most common; they often featured the designs of established and well-known artists (including Norman Rockwell, whose Four Freedoms images quickly became four million war posters). However, corporations and private institutions also produced posters during the war. Whatever their source, many thousands of these posters have survived in archival repositories, leaving a colorful record of what one propagandist called the “war within a war.”

Ask the Women and Children…
Title: Ask the Women and Children…
Year: 1942
Artist: Käthe Kollwitz
Published: Office of War Information

Are You Playing Square?
Title: Are You Playing Square?
Year: 1944
Artist: Dean Cornwell
Published: Office of War Information

Can All You Can
Title: Can All You Can
Year: 1943
Artist: unknown
Published: Office of War Information

War Traffic Must Come First
Title: War Traffic Must Come First
Year: 1943
Artist: unknown
Published: Office of War Information

No One Had to Tell Him to Save Food & Equipment
Title: No One Had to Tell Him to Save Food & Equipment
Year: 1944
Artist: Wilson
Published: US Army

Salvage For Victory
Title: Salvage For Victory
Year: unknown
Artist: Louis Robert Samish
Published: unknown

Saboteur!
Title: Saboteur!
Year: unknown
Artist: LeBaron Coakley
Published: OCASC Intelligence Section