---
title: '4 Minute Men: A Message from Washington'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/four-minute-men-message-from-washington-1917/
description: A town crier in a tricorn hat rings a handbell in front of Independence Hall beneath the words '4 Minute Men', with a card reading 'A Message from…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![4 Minute Men: A Message from Washington](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/four-minute-men-message-from-washington-1917.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/four-minute-men-message-from-washington-1917.jpg)

# 4 Minute Men: A Message from Washington

A town crier in a tricorn hat rings a handbell in front of Independence Hall beneath the words '4 Minute Men', with a card reading 'A Message from Washington' and the Committee on Public Information named at the foot. The costume, the building and the Minute Men name borrow the standing of 1775-1776 for a 1917 federal speakers' programme, so a government bulletin arrives dressed as a citizens' call to arms.

- **Date:** 1917
- **Period:** [First World War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=wwi)
- **Made by:** Committee on Public Information (Four Minute Men division); artist H. Devitt Welsh
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=poster)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [Wilson Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=wilson-administration)
- **Leader:** [Woodrow Wilson](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=woodrow-wilson)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Mobilize or secure compliance](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=mobilize-comply)
- **Themes:** [Home front](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=home-front), [Media and information](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=media-information)
- **Event:** [World War I](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=world-war-i)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Regime:** [Wilson administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/wilson-administration/)
- **Leader:** [Woodrow Wilson](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/wilson-administration/#woodrow-wilson)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/93517441/), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931) Welsh, H. Devitt, 1888-1942, artist. 1917. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-53577.

## Text on the object

Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked

```
4 MINUTE MEN

A
MESSAGE
FROM
WASHINGTON

INDEPENDENCE HALL

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC INFORMATION
```

The artist's signature ('H. Devitt Welsh') is written in script at lower right of the illustration, small but legible; it is a signature rather than body text and is not included in originalText.

[← שפייז וועט געווינען דיא קריעג! (Food Will Win the War!), Yiddish edition](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/food-will-win-the-war-yiddish-1917/) [Gee!! I Wish I Were a Man, I'd Join the Navy →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gee-i-wish-i-were-a-man-1917/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)