Have you got what it takes to fill an important job like this? Enlist in the WAVES
Navy recruiting poster for the WAVES: a woman in Navy uniform reaches up into a large parachute canopy, labelled 'Parachute Rigger 2/c'. The red question 'Have you got what it takes to fill an important job like this?' challenges the reader, and the base panel says 'Enlist in the WAVES'. The appeal rests on the words 'important job' and a named rating.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Navy (artist 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
- Recruit
- Themes
- War and the military, Gender and suffrage
- 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. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-936 (NAID 514442).
Text on the object
Have you got what it takes to fill an important job like this? PARACHUTE RIGGER 2/c Enlist in the WAVES INQUIRE TODAY AT ANY NAVY RECRUITING STATION OR OFFICE OF NAVAL OFFICER PROCUREMENT [signature: JOHN FALTER USNR] [imprint: ORDER NO. 67[?]] [imprint: NAVPERS-NRB-[illegible]-29 Feb 44-4M]
