---
title: Avenge December 7
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/avenge-december-7-owi-1942/
description: A sailor with a torn sleeve thrusts a clenched fist at the viewer above a burning, exploding warship, under the single command 'Avenge December 7'.
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Avenge December 7](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/avenge-december-7-owi-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/avenge-december-7-owi-1942.jpg)

# Avenge December 7

A sailor with a torn sleeve thrusts a clenched fist at the viewer above a burning, exploding warship, under the single command 'Avenge December 7'. The poster names no enemy or country; it pastes the stigma of the Pearl Harbor attack onto the demand for action, so the date does the work an argument would.

## Text on the object

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

```
AVENGE
December 7

OWI Poster No. 15.  Additional copies may be obtained upon request from the Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C.

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE [illegible]
```

The artist's script signature at lower right reads 'Bernard Perlin'. The printing-office imprint after 'U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE' is too small to read in this scan.

[← Ave Caesar! Morituri te salutant (British leaflet to Italy)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ave-caesar-morituri-te-salutant-pwe-leaflet-1942/) [Belajarlah! Pakailah! Bahasa Nippon! (Learn! Use! The Japanese Language!) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/belajarlah-pakailah-bahasa-nippon-1942/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (Kushan Empire · 0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Mughal gold coin of Jahangir, dated 1028 AH, with a bull inside a ring of sun rays](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jahangir-gold-zodiac-coin-sun-rays-1619/) (Mughal Empire · 1619 · Transfer)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (Spanish Netherlands · 1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)