Defend Your Country
Army enlistment poster: a stern Uncle Sam figure in star-and-stripe trousers strides before a gold disc and a bald eagle, his discarded coat and hat on the ground. The headline 'Defend Your Country' and the flag colours attach national symbols to the call to 'Enlist Now in the United States Army' (transfer, with glittering generalities).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1940
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army, Recruiting Publicity Bureau; artist Tom B. Woodburn
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Theme
- 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-252 (NAID 513694).
Text on the object
DEFEND YOUR COUNTRY ENLIST NOW in the UNITED STATES ARMY [signature: Tom Woodburn] [imprint: Copyright 1940, Tom B. Woodburn] [imprint: P-25-RPB-5-20-40-12,500]
