Clear the Way! Buy Bonds. Fourth Liberty Loan
A woman in a laurel wreath and white gown, wrapped in the Stars and Stripes, gestures over a naval gun crew firing at sea under the headline 'Clear the Way!' and the instruction 'Buy Bonds'. The poster attaches the personified emblem of the nation and the sailors' action to the purchase of bonds, so that buying is presented as part of the gun crew's work.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Treasury Department (Fourth Liberty Loan campaign)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Themes
- War and the military, Economy and finance
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
U.S. Treasury Department (Fourth Liberty Loan campaign). National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-207.
Text on the object
CLEAR THE WAY!! BUY BONDS FOURTH LIBERTY LOAN Howard Chandler Christy 10-B
'10-B' (bottom left) is a small print code; 'Howard Chandler Christy' is the artist's signature.
