VAM galleries including this work:
The Kentucky Historical Society | What’s the Point? || VAM Home

During World War II, the U.S. government launched an aggressive propaganda campaign to galvanize public support. Propaganda posters advanced six principal themes: arousing faith in the American/Allied cause, urging personal correspondence with servicemen and women, admonishing care against an ever-present danger of espionage, encouraging conservation of resources and materials, supporting home-front defense workers, and teaching civil defense procedures. This poster was printed for the United States Office of War Information in 1943. Although men whose occupations were considered “critical,” such as agriculture and food processing, were exempt from the draft, there was a shortage of farm labor during the war. The purpose of this poster was to get citizens to volunteer as field hands to help in food production for the war effort. It was one of a collection of 125 posters given by Mrs. Palmore to the KHS. They had hung in the Library at Glasgow, Kentucky during the war.

About the Artist

During World War II, some of the nation’s foremost intellectuals, artists, and filmmakers were recruited to help win the hearts and minds of American citizens with words, posters, and films.

Spencer Douglass Crockwell was born in 1904 in Columbus, Ohio. He grew up in St. Louis, but moved to Glen Falls, New York, in 1932. From 1931-1966, he did freelance illustrative painting, which included works such as this propaganda poster, covers for the Saturday Evening Post, and advertisements in magazines such as Life. Crockwell was also well known for his avant-garde abstract animations. His films include Glen Falls Sequence (1946), Long Bodies (1947), and Motion Painting No. 1 (1949).

Classroom Ideas

Discussion: Examine the poster and answer the following questions:

Who is pictured on the poster? In what actions are they involved? What words are included in the text of the poster? Which words convey a strong connotation? Are any symbols used in the poster? If so, what do they represent? What response(s) might this poster have elicited from Americans on the home front? How does the poster use shape, color, space, and/or other artistic techniques to heighten the emotional response of the audience? Which of the elements italicized in the above questions is/are most important to the overall effect of the poster?

What is the purpose of this poster? Why would the U.S. government want to convince people to work on a farm during World War II? Would this poster make you want to work on a farm? What is propaganda? Is propaganda released today? How can you tell if you are viewing propaganda?

Activities: Create a poster that combines words and images to persuade. Or, look for examples of posters from different decades of the 20th century. What type of purposes and messages have posters been used to convey?

Note: This image can be used to address social studies Core Content.

Links

Read the entry on World War II in the Kentucky Encyclopedia (subscription required for online version).
[www.kyenc.org/entry/w/WORLD02.html]

Some sites where you can view other examples of World War II poster art:

• Powers of Persuasion: Poster Art from World War II from the National Archives
  [www.archives.gov/exhibit_hall/powers_of_persuasion/powers_of_persuasion_intro.html#]
• World War II Poster Collection from the Northwestern University Library
  [www.library.northwestern.edu/govpub/collections/wwii-posters/]
• Posters of the Second World War in the Kittleson Collection at the Minneapolis Public Library (reprints available)
  [www.mplib.org/wpdb/]