Content note: Painting of a uniformed soldier with a swastika armband striking shirtless forced labourers. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Don't slow up the ship!
A two-panel painting under a mock newspaper headline, 'Enemy gains in shipyard battle! As U.S. worker takes extra day off!': on the left a uniformed soldier with a swastika armband drives shirtless forced labourers, on the right an idle shipyard worker holds cards. The fear-appeal links one worker's absence to an enemy gain, and the newspaper format borrows the look of a news report.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy, Incentive Division, painting by John Falter USNR
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Labor, Home front, 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. Navy, Incentive Division. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-723 (NAID 514210).
Text on the object
The News VOL. XLIX . . . NO. 2,714 ENEMY GAINS IN SHIPYARD BATTLE! AS U.S. WORKER TAKES EXTRA DAY OFF! ROMMEL TANKS RETREAT FOE LANDS TROOPS LEGISLATURE HELD [illegible] YEAR RULE ENDS MORE PRODUC[...] [signature:] JOHN FALTER USNR STAY ON THE JOB! DON'T [GIVE struck through] SLOW UP THE SHIP! [imprint:] LUTZ & SHEINKMAN, NEW YORK [imprint:] INCENTIVE DIVISION, NAVY DEPARTMENT S-10-11M
