Content note: Caricatures of Hitler and of a Japanese figure with exaggerated features and a rising-sun flag, drawn as grotesques. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Don't talk!
Black-on-cream cartoon poster headed 'Don't talk!' A soldier in a bar tells a woman his squadron's departure details ('I'll miss you when I leave with the Umpteenth squadron for So and So land on Such & Such day') while caricatured Hitler-like and Japanese figures, marked with swastikas and a rising-sun flag, pop up from beer mugs and a pipe and listen. The enemy leaders appear as grotesque figures, name-calling, and the setting implies that casual talk reaches them.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Poster signed Yardley (issuer not printed)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- War and the military, Security and surveillance
- 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)
Poster signed Yardley (issuer not printed). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-689 (NAID 514169).
Text on the object
DON'T TALK! ... DON'T DIVULGE INFORMATION CONCERNING TROOP MOVEMENTS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES AND ELSEWHERE. I'LL MISS YOU WHEN I LEAVE WITH THE UMPTEENTH SQUADRON FOR SO and SO LAND ON SUCH & SUCH DAY [signature: Yardley]
