Content note: Health poster stating a syphilis statistic with a test tube of blood and a cluster of faces. This object is shown as it was published. Why
A blood test for everyone: the only sure check
Health poster: a glowing cluster of faces of different ages and sexes, one a Black man, one a baby, crossed by a test tube of red blood, with 'A blood test for EVERYONE, the only sure check' and 'Syphilis strikes 1 in 10 before 50'. The tell is a statistic used as a fear-appeal and a universal 'everyone' that places the viewer among those to be tested.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Public Health Service
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Health, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. Public Health Service. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-267 (NAID 513716).
Text on the object
A BLOOD TEST FOR EVERYONE THE ONLY SURE CHECK Syphilis STRIKES 1 IN 10 BEFORE 50 [imprint:] UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE [signature:] [illegible]
