History 660 Internet Research Paper

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Us and Them: WPA Poster Art of World War II

By Corry Dodson

History 660 Fall 2005

Source: Library of Congress, "By The People, For the People: Posters From the WPA 1936 - 1943"

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaposters/wpahome.html

During World War II there was a concerted effort to make Americans on the home front feel as though they had as much to do with eventual Allied victory as did the soldiers fighting overseas. Between 1941 and 1945, the United States government undertook a massive public relations campaign to include people in the war efforts and enlist civilians into assuring an Allied victory. The poster was one method preferred by the federal government to reach the American people. An easily made and distributed medium, the poster nevertheless succeeded in reaching many people and presented the governments messages in clear and simple terms.

Housed on-line in the Library of Congress’s American Memory database is a collection of over sixty full color reproductions of posters made by the Works Projects Administration during World War II. The collection “By the People, For the People: Posters from the WPA, 1936-1943” contains some 900 images of posters created by the WPA, though in this paper I will concern myself only with the posters related to World War II. These posters provide a glimpse into an era in American history when the government wanted to unite the American public behind a single cause, victory in war, and the American people were eager to help the government’s efforts.

An investigation of the World War II posters created by the WPA reveals  simultaneous calls for Americans to cooperate with one another, identifying as a people united against a common enemy. The calls for sacrifice made by the government call everyone to be an active participant in the war effort, even though the actual fighting of the war was happening thousands of miles away. The posters call for a consistent attitude of an “us against them” mentality, the “them” signifying at different times, in different posters, the Japanese, the Germans, gossips, careless people and selfish people, frequently implying other American citizens as much as overseas enemies. The “them” implied in these posters changes, while the “us” consistently remains the same.

One interesting element about the messages of inclusion and unity depicted in the posters, is that they were created and distributed by a group, the Works Progress Administration, born out of the exact same impetus five years before the American entry into the Second World War.  In 1935, in the depths of the Depression, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the Works Progress Administration, as an organization to hire millions of unemployed workers and make them feel included and worthy again in the American economy and society.

Believing direct relief anathema to pride and self-confidence, FDR and his advisors, devised the Works Progress Administration, in an effort to put unemployed Americans back to work utilizing their skills.[1] The Federal Art Project originated under the umbrella of the WPA and put approximately 5,000 visual artists to work in eighteen different states on various projects, including poster division projects.[2] In these divisions artists were paid to create and present visually arresting and clear messages from the government to the people.

Posters proved to be an effective and inexpensive way of communicating when they were heavily used by the government to communicate with the masses during World War I. Most of the World War I posters centered around either recruitment or war bonds to pay for the war. To a society increasingly on the move in the 1920s, posters proved an effective way of communicating with people, no matter if they walked, drove or rode public transportation. The majority of the American population could be reached via poster. During the Great Depression, FDR used the poster to educate people about societal issues, such as healthcare and childcare.[3] The popularity and effectiveness of the poster was well-established then by the time the United States entered World War II.

The majority of the posters in the Library of Congress collection pertaining to World War II, call upon Americans on the home front to do their part in helping out the war effort. Posters such as “No Water—No Guns: Don’t Waste It!”[4] and “Your wartime duty! Don’t waste water: don’t use more water in the kitchen than is necessary”[5] emphasize not taking natural resources for granted. The implication here being one’s individual sacrifices at home will make an important contribution to those fighting overseas. Other posters ask the American public to lend items to the military, such as binoculars. On a poster with the drawing of a sinking ship on it, the message reads “Your binoculars could prevent this: Loan your 6 x 30 or 7 x 50 Zeiss or Baush and Lomb binoculars to your navy: Pack carefully and sent to Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C.”[6] Posters such as these seemed to indicate that people at home quite literally were supplying the armed forces, that even their small consumer goods, could help win the war. The dual calls for sacrifice and personal participation imprinted on the American public a sense that everyone united together could help win the war, and that it was not just up to the soldiers overseas to bring home victory, but up to individuals and their neighbor’s to bring it home as well.

One interesting sub-set of the posters in the collection all relate to the idea that enemy spies and informants could be anywhere at any time, and any careless slip of the tongue could end in the death of the soldier, the sinking of a ship or the bombing of a train. These somewhat accusatory posters seem meant to inspire not only personal caution, but also a personal policing of one’s neighbor’s as well, as even the mostly innocent seeming revelation of details could cost lives. The poster, “Keep Mum: Loose talk costs lives”[7] depicts a supply train blown in half with several dead bodies on the grounds nearby. The poster “Keep mum – the world has ears”[8] depicts a woman on the telephone covering the mouthpiece, while a globe listens in on her conversation. In this poster we see the government also warning that the new technologies such as the phone and radio, can now be used by the enemy to malevolent ends, and one must be careful with these technologies.

A rather blunt message appears on the poster, “Let me do the talking!: Serve in Silence”[9] with a picture of a large canon on the poster, implying that the American people should not discuss the war, but should rather let the military arsenal do the talking for them and the country.

While this collection mainly consists of posters depicting Americans, and the American military, there are a handful of posters depicting the enemy, most notably demonizing the Japanese. While there were posters negatively depicting Germans, Hitler and Nazis used during World War II, they are not represented in this collection. But even those posters in other collections of the era do not come close to portraying the Germans in the racially slanderous way the Japanese are represented in these posters. These posters lend credence to the argument that the war fought in the Pacific was a different war than the one fought in Europe. An explanation for this argument can be found in historian John Dower’s book, War Without Mercy, in which he argues that the war in the Pacific turned into a race war, with the enemies motivated more so by racial hatred than anything else.[10] This extreme racial hatred is indeed evident in several of the posters of this collection.

One example of an extremely racially slanderous depiction of the Japanese occurs in the poster, “Alaska – Death Trap for the Jap” in which a Japanese soldier is depicted as a long-toothed rat, coming into Alaska from Asia, about to bite a piece of cheese off a trap. The trap waiting to spring is labeled “Army-Navy-Civilian”,[11] Implying that it is everyone’s job to kill the rat. There is also a poster of a devilish looking Japanese soldier hiding behind a tree with a match, with the caption “Stop and get your free fag bag : Careless matches aid the Axis”[12] encouraging soldiers to dispose of their matches in “fag bags” so that the Japanese would not get a hold of them. These posters depict the Japanese not as humans, but as animals or monsters, thus beckoning the American people to think of them as such. The government is delineating a clear enemy here and one that deserves the ire and wrath of every citizen. These portrayals of such a despicable enemy should only serve then to bring the people together to unite against them.

            Lastly, there is a common theme among some of the posters merely asking for Americans to go about their lives normal lives, continuing to practice the arts of practicality, domesticity and sobriety. One poster calls for calm in the face of panic, with an image of a neatly assembled line of people, the caption reading, “An orderly line is a safe line,”[13] depicting ideal behavior during an air raid.  In another message urging Americans, to keep up their regular domestic endeavors, a poster simply reads, “Sew for Victory.”[14]

            Throughout this collection a clear message is being sent by the government to the American people, to make personal sacrifices, be ever alert to possible dangers, unite against despicable enemies and remain calm and steadfast at home, holding down the home front while the soldiers battle overseas. It is implied throughout that only through the cooperation of the home front and the war front will ultimate victory be won.  Though Americans were initially reluctant to enter World War II, after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Americans almost unanimously supported the war effort and were eager to do their part on the home front. These posters both helped the government motivate the citizens, and made the citizens feel a major part of the war effort.

            In 1942, the Federal Art Project was disbanded and much of the government communications work went on to the Department of Defense Graphics Division, where posters continued to be produced with similar themes until the end of the war. After the war, the government demand for these kinds of posters dwindled and private industry found advertising on radio and television more effective than print advertising, ushering in the demise of these kinds of posters.[15] The collection of war posters in the Library of Congress however, provides us with an interesting insight into the psyche of the American people during World War II and the relationship of the federal government to the people in the home front war mobilization. From these posters, I believe we can see a strong need for the government and the people of America to feel a unity among themselves and with each other. The government and the people seem to agree that solidarity with each other and the soldiers overseas would bring them victory. With the government situating Americans against malevolent forces, be it gossip or the Japanese, and the American people responding with unity, the country helped define its own mission and path towards victory.