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Introduction
World War I (WWI) was a conflict between 1914 and 1918 of the worlds powers militaries caused mainly by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary on 28 June, 1914. According to Goldstein and Maihafer (2004, Para.9), t he United States of America joined the war on April 6th, 1917. Prior to this, America peacefully traded with the warring nations but the Germans introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare on January 9th, 1917 made her join the war on the Allies side. Duffy (2009, Para. 1), indicates that the U.S.A. produced the greatest number of propaganda materials in relation to any other single nation participating in the war. This essay will discuss the message they sent to the American, the themes they emphasized and also the actions they promoted.
Messages Conveyed to the American people
As the posters images showed, the messages majorly advised all Americans especially those not serving in the army on what do. They included asking people to cut down on their food intake and donate the surplus to the military that needed it, joining the army irrespective of their gender and profession, and helping the dependants of those serving in the army. The posters also called for helping the charity organizations that assisted the soldiers and victims of the war especially in Europe where majority were affected by the war among other issues (Duffy, 2009, Para.4).
Themes
The themes of the messages in these posters were mostly monetary matters, food issues, service in the armed forces and humanitarian obligations. The spirit of togetherness/comradeship was emphasized in these propaganda posters
Actions promoted
In a number of the posters, the agency involved encouraged people to help finance the war through purchase of different long term maturity liberty bonds issued by the government to generate cash for the course. There were also those encouraging people to eat certain kinds of food such as fish and leave others like wheat to soldiers that were serving in the frontlines or in some cases rationing consumption of particular food stuff like sugar. Participating in military service was encouraged by the posters that advised people to enlist in various branches of the military providing detailed information on how to do so. Others gave incentives such as free legal advice on property for those that were enlisting to serve. They generally depicted the need for increased numbers in the forces in order to win the war. A number of posters called on citizens to on humanitarian grounds requesting for cash and food donations to charity organizations such as the Red Cross and professional aid by those in heath and logistics fields. The posters did portray and push for the concept of power in the masses. In several instances, whether on charity donations, saving of food or buying of the liberty bonds, the message implied was for individuals to do the little they could and the collective impact would be enormous. The implication also was that failure to do this would lead to Americas defeat and ruining of the country as a whole.
Reference
Duffy, Michael. (2009), Propaganda Posters-United States of America.Web.
Goldstein, M. & Maihafer, J. (2004). America in World War I. Virginia, U.S: Brassey
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