Guilty! Of mishandling tools
Cartoon courtroom in which a vise judge, a saw witness and a pliers policeman confront a sweating worker labelled 'Mister Toolwrecker'. The tell is the trial frame: the worker is branded with a derisive label and shown frightened, a shaming appeal to care for tools.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Victory-Builders Division, Bressler Editorial Cartoons, Inc. (artist Packer)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor
- 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)
Victory-Builders Division, Bressler Editorial Cartoons, Inc.. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-925 (NAID 514431).
Text on the object
GUILTY! OF MISHANDLING TOOLS [label on paper:] MISTER TOOLWRECKER GOOD TOOLS DESERVE GOOD CARE [signature:] Packer [imprint:] PRINTED IN U.S.A. [imprint:] Copyright, "Victory-Builders" Division Bressler Editorial Cartoons, Inc., New York
