China first to fight!
Fundraising poster in painted style: a Chinese soldier with a rifle stands behind a woman and a child, under the headline CHINA FIRST TO FIGHT! and a banner for United China Relief. The armed soldier and the family together attach the pathos of civilians to the appeal, and the headline gives China the claim of precedence in the war; the technique is faint and mostly emotional framing.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- United China Relief, participating in the National War Fund (artist Martha Sawyers)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- NGO
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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)
United China Relief, participating in the National War Fund. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-119 (NAID 513567).
Text on the object
CHINA FIRST TO FIGHT! UNITED CHINA RELIEF PARTICIPATING IN NATIONAL WAR FUND [signature: Martha Sawyers]
