---
title: Be a ship's officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/be-a-ships-officer-merchant-marine-cadet-1941/
description: 'Recruiting poster in red, white and blue: an officer in a white-topped cap holds a sextant, with a sailing ship, a liner and cadets at work behind him.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Be a ship's officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine

[![Be a ship's officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine, 1941 US poster: Recruiting poster in red, white and blue](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/be-a-ships-officer-merchant-marine-cadet-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/be-a-ships-officer-merchant-marine-cadet-1941.jpg)

# Be a ship's officer in the U.S. Merchant Marine

Recruiting poster in red, white and blue: an officer in a white-topped cap holds a sextant, with a sailing ship, a liner and cadets at work behind him, and a box listing the terms of the Cadet-Midshipman programme. The appeal pairs the officer's status and the Corps emblem with a list of benefits (pay, uniforms, textbooks free), a mix of prestige and selected advantages.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Card stacking](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/card-stacking/)

## Text on the object

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

```
be a ship's OFFICER
IN THE U.S. MERCHANT MARINE
Become a Future Officer
* be a Marine engineer
* become a deck officer
* men 17 years, 6 months to 23 years of age
* of high school education
* pay while in training
* same as a Midshipman
* uniforms and textbooks issued without charge
ACTA NON VERBA
for information to Become a
CADET-MIDSHIPMAN
U.S. MERCHANT MARINE CADET CORPS
APPLICATIONS CAN BE SECURED AT
U.S. MARITIME SERVICE
[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 194[illegible] O - [illegible]
```

[← Back the attack with war bonds](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/back-the-attack-with-war-bonds-typographic-1941/) [Be doubly alert crossing at night →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/be-doubly-alert-crossing-at-night-aaa/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Colour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
- [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)
- [The Armada Portrait of Elizabeth I (Royal Museums Greenwich version), oil on panel](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/armada-portrait-elizabeth-i-greenwich-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [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)