Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
Health is a patriotic duty. Keep fit., 1941 US poster: Blue-and-yellow health poster

Health is a patriotic duty. Keep fit.

Blue-and-yellow health poster: a soldier aiming a rifle, a sailor with a machine gun and a woman at a drill press, with the text 'Health is a patriotic duty. Keep fit.' The sheet places personal health alongside military and war-plant work as a duty to the country, a transfer of patriotic standing to health habits.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Transfer
Date
1941
Period
Second World War
Made by
American Social Hygiene Association, New York (artist Ben Klein)
Region
North America
Country
United States
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
NGO
Regime
Roosevelt Administration
Leader
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes
Health, Home front
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)
American Social Hygiene Association. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-945 (NAID 514451).

Text on the object

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

HEALTH
is a patriotic duty
KEEP FIT
[signature: Ben Klein]
[imprint: AMERICAN SOCIAL HYGIENE ASSOCIATION 1790 BROADWAY, N. Y. CITY, N. Y. POSTER NO. 1]

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