---
title: The Greatest Mother in the World
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/greatest-mother-in-the-world-red-cross-nara-1918/
description: A seated nurse in a white veil cradles a stretcher-borne wounded soldier in the pose of a Madonna and child, beside a large red cross.
section: Collection
---

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3. The Greatest Mother in the World

[![The Greatest Mother in the World, 1918 US poster: A seated nurse in a white veil cradles a stretcher-borne wounded soldier](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/greatest-mother-in-the-world-red-cross-nara-1918.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/greatest-mother-in-the-world-red-cross-nara-1918.jpg)

# The Greatest Mother in the World

A seated nurse in a white veil cradles a stretcher-borne wounded soldier in the pose of a Madonna and child, beside a large red cross, under the caption 'The Greatest Mother in the World'. The poster borrows the emotional weight of motherhood and religious imagery for the Red Cross and names no specific request in its text.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/)

## Text on the object

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

```
The
GREATEST MOTHER
in the
WORLD
A. E. FORINGER
```

The artist's signature is small and partly worn; a tiny printer's line at the lower right edge is illegible.

[← The Greatest Mother in the World: Red Cross Christmas Roll Call](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/greatest-mother-in-the-world-1918/) [Halt the Hun! Buy U.S. Government Bonds, Third Liberty Loan →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/halt-the-hun-1918/)

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- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
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- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)