Click2History - America in World War II - The Forgotten Posters - Chapter 4

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>THE FORGOTTEN POSTERS</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 4 - PRODUCTION SOLDIERS AT HOME</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Loyal citizens went to work. Factories ran their production lines seven days a week. Everyone realized the first line of defense against Nazi and Japanese aggression was with the "<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0870a.gif" target="_blank"><b>production soldiers</b></a>" at home.</p> <p>Every company had a goal: Don’t be absent from work. As one <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0865a.gif" target="_blank"><b>poster</b></a> noted, the Army calls absence from work "desertion." People were encouraged to keep working hard so the men overseas could <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0856a.gif" target="_blank"><b>come home</b></a> sooner rather than later.</p> <p>Even newspaper articles, reduced to posters, made the point. One (from the <i>Louisville Courier-Journal</i>) told the story of a soldier who "<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0832a.gif" target="_blank"><b>died last night</b></a>." He died alone. Without the pat of a hand or a word of comfort. And when he died, "we died...There’s no getting around that." The story begs a fundamental question, of course: What kind of sacrifice (money and work) can production soldiers at home make to be worthy of his death?</p> <p>Specific posters communicated specific messages:</p><blockquote><ul> <li>"<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/12/17-1179a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Civilian-soldiers</b></a>...Don’t let MacArthur down!"<br><br> <li>"<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/12/17-1190a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Come on</b></a>, you workers."<br><br> <li>"<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/13/17-1231a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Deliver</b></a> for D-Day"<br><br> <li>"Cut out delays; stay on the <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/12/17-1133a.gif" target="_blank"><b>job</b></a>."<br><br> <li>Don’t be a "<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/12/17-1162a.gif" target="_blank"><b>casualty</b></a> on the home front."<br><br> <li>"His life is in <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/16/17-1541a.gif" target="_blank"><b>your hands</b></a>."<br><br> <li>"<a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0864a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Absence</b></a> makes the war last longer."<br><br> <li>Sons overseas dispense what fathers make <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/9/17-0852a.gif" target="_blank"><b>at home</b></a>.<br><br> <li>Get the <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/17/15/17-1487a.gif" target="_blank"><b>landing craft</b></a> into the fight.</blockquote><br></ul> <p>No matter how hard people worked, the "boys overseas" needed more.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="forgotten_posters_ch3.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="forgotten_posters_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="forgotten_posters_ch5.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>