Bearing a burden
A cartoon ball bearing with a face staggers under a crate marked RUSH and cries HELP, above a three-step list: keep bearings clean, adjusted and lubricated. A note on the crate says bearings carry the war to the enemy on trucks, tanks, planes and ships. The technique is personification: a distressed object stands in for the strain on wartime equipment.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army Conservation Program (artist Chalfonte)
- 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
- Home front, War and the military
- 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-470 (NAID 513940).
Text on the object
bearing a burden Ball and roller bearings are carrying the War to the ENEMY on trucks, tanks, tractors, trains, planes, ships . . . . . . . . . . . RUSH HELP 1 Keep bearings clean! 2 Keep them adjusted! 3 Keep them lubricated! U.S. ARMY SAVE CONSERVATION PROGRAM [signature:] chalfonte ARMY CONSERVATION PROJECT NO. 114-O-19 [imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944—O—607659
