Content note: Shows a drowned seaman on a raft and survivors in the water beside a sinking ship, with a U-boat periscope inside a swastika-shaped shadow. This object is shown as it was published. Why
A menace we must beat!
Scrap-metal poster: a uniformed officer in a circular inset says 'We need your metal to help fight the U-boat!' above a sinking, smoking ship, survivors in the water, a body on a raft and a periscope inside a swastika-shaped dark patch. The fear-appeal is the drowning seaman; the unnamed officer's voice is the authority behind the request to give scrap.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army (artist Rollin Kirby)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, 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. Army. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-291 (NAID 513738).
Text on the object
A MENACE WE MUST BEAT! "WE NEED YOUR METAL TO HELP FIGHT THE U-BOAT!" U. S. ARMY [signature: Rollin Kirby] [imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943 O - 536381]
