American Elections poster, No. 1, 1964 US poster: The first sheet of a poster series on U.S. elections, with a Japanese

American Elections poster, No. 1 (Japanese-English poster distributed in Tokyo)

The first sheet of a poster series on U.S. elections, with a Japanese headline over a photograph of Abraham Lincoln, a classroom lesson on government, a large campaign crowd at Texarkana and voters queuing at a polling place. The text calls elections the basis of politics in a democracy, quotes Lincoln's 'of the people, by the people, for the people', and asks how a presidential election works under a two-party system. The tell is transfer: Lincoln's authority is attached to the electoral system as a whole.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Glittering generalities Transfer

Date: October 12, 1964
Period: Cold War
Made by: U.S. Information Agency (predecessor: State Department International Information and Educational Exchange Program), Propaganda Posters Distributed in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East series
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
Regime: Johnson Administration
Leader: Lyndon B. Johnson
Audience: Foreign public
Purpose: Persuade or win support
Theme: Elections and party politics
Event: Cold War
Source: Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
Source: U.S. National Archives (NARA), Record Group 306, Posters in Asia, Latin America, Middle East, retrieved October 4, 2026
Rights: Public domain (U.S. government work; NARA RG 306)
U.S. Information Agency / Department of State, October 12, 1964. National Archives, Record Group 306 (NAID 6949283, 306-PPB-358).

Text on the object

Original (Japanese) · read from the image, not independently checked

アメリカの選挙

第16代大統領
エブラハム・リンカーン

子供たちは 学校で国の政治機構を学ぶ

民主主義の国アメリカの政治のありかたは、リンカーンの「人民の、人民による、人民のための政治」という言葉に象徴されている。そしてこのような政治の基礎となっているのが選挙であり、そのなかで最も重要なものが4年毎の大統領選挙である。二大政党制の国アメリカで、それはどのようにして行なわれるのであろうか。

候補者は政見を発表する

選挙日の投票所

AMERICAN
ELECTIONS

1

UNITED
STATES
INFORMATION
SERVICE

[in photograph:] TEXARKANA; KENNEDY-JOHNSON

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

American Elections. The 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. Children learn the country's political structure at school. The way of politics in democratic America is symbolised by Lincoln's words 'government of the people, by the people, for the people'. The foundation of such politics is elections, and the most important of them is the presidential election every four years. In America, a country of two major parties, how is it carried out? The candidates announce their views. The polling place on election day.

English text and in-photograph signs are transcribed as printed.