A Call to Arms
A hole-punched card with a Union Jack above 'A Call to Arms' and a paragraph listing rights said to be 'in peril in this war', credited to Prime Minister Mackenzie King. The tells: broad value terms such as rights, home and worship (glittering-generalities) and endorsement by the Prime Minister's name (testimonial).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1939
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- No issuer imprint visible; text credited to Mr. Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister
- Region
- North America
- Country
- Canada
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Mackenzie King Government
- Leader
- William Lyon Mackenzie King
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- Event
- World War II
- Source
- Unidentified Source blurred: contractors, cutouts, buried disclosure
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, World War II Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Held by NARA, Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision (Canadian wartime poster, 1939-1945)
Unattributed, National Archives and Records Administration, 44-PF-708a.
Text on the object
A CALL TO ARMS We believe that everything which free men value and cherish, on this side of the grave, is in peril in this war. The right of men, rich and poor, to be treated as men; the right of men to make the laws by which they shall be governed; the right of men to work where they will, at what they will; the right of womankind to the serenity and sanctity of the home; the right of children to play in safety under peace- ful heavens, the right of old men and women to the tranquility of their sun- set; the right to speak the truth in our hearts; the right to worship, in our own way, the God in whom we believe. Mr. Mackenzie King, the Prime Minister
