Dictatorship: since 1929, in peace and war, average weekly wages in America have increased 34%
Think American poster: a large hairy hand marked 'DICTATORSHIP' drives a knife through a pay check, with red blood on the blade and table. Text gives two wage figures, up 34% in America since 1929 and down over 25% in the Axis dictator countries. The tell is the knife-and-blood image paired with a one-sided pair of statistics with no source printed.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Think American Institute (Kelly-Read & Co., Rochester, N.Y.); artist C. R. Miller
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Home front, Economy and finance
- 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)
Think American Institute / Kelly-Read & Co.. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1752 (NAID 515424).
Text on the object
DICTATORSHIP PAY CHECK Pev[illegible] [illegible]. Bohco. No.1942 $48 [illegible] [signature on check:] [illegible] Since 1929, in peace and war, average weekly wages in America have increased 34%. They've dropped over 25% in the Axis Dictator countries during that same period [signature:] C R MILLER [imprint:] THINKAMERICAN INSTITUTE (seal) [imprint:] THINKAMERICAN REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. [imprint:] No. 147-COPYRIGHT,-KELLY-READ & CO., ROCHESTER, N.Y. [partly illegible]
