War Posters Want You!
There are few war posters more recognizable than James Montgomery Flagg's, I Want You for the U.S. Army recruiting poster. Featuring a finger pointing Uncle Sam, the poster was used by the U.S. Army to increase enlistment during World War I.
So pervasive was Flagg's illustrations, that the picture became the definitive image of Uncle Sam throughout most of the twentieth century.
Other wartime artists such as Howard Chandler Christy, produced a very different style of poster. Christy's posters such as Gee! I Wish I Were a Man included a potent mix of sexuality and patriotism. J. Howard Miller's World War II poster We Can Do it, with its portrayal of a strong, competent woman dressed in
overalls and a bandanna -- was created as a symbol of patriotic womanhood to encouraged women to enter the workforce and take up the slack for the men who had left for the war.
Although these posters were used for wartime propaganda, they reveal the numerous fronts upon which America fought the war. Flagg's recruiting posters may have been used to swell the ranks, but they were also used to bolster volunteer efforts, to increase food production, as well as to encourage wartime savings.
Other war posters at Aaron Posters:
War Posters | WWII Posters
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