Healthy Bodies, Active Minds

U.S. Navy recruiting sheet: eight before-and-after photographs of young men against height grids, with dates, and a paragraph claiming Navy training builds posture and fitness. Closing line: 'Enlist today! America needs the Navy and the Navy needs you!' The tell is the selected before-and-after evidence presented as typical, a card-stacking device.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Testimonial Card stacking

Date: 1942
Period: Second World War
Made by: U.S. Navy
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, Health
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-20 (NAID 513515).

Text on the object

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

HEALTHY BODIES - ACTIVE MINDS
Developed in Men of the UNITED STATES NAVY
BEFORE (Sept. 12, 41) / AFTER (Oct. 12, 41)
BEFORE (Aug. 22, 41) / AFTER (Oct. 1, 41)
BEFORE (Aug. 22, 41) / AFTER (Oct. 12, 41)
BEFORE (Aug. 22, 41) / AFTER (Oct. 1, 42)
Men build the NAVY...
The NAVY builds Men!
[body paragraph beginning: TODAY the United States Navy defends America's freedom -- and its fighting strength depends upon the healthy bodies and alert minds of its men. ... remainder illegible at hosted size]
MEN... Take advantage of the many opportunities the Navy offers you...
ENLIST TODAY! AMERICA NEEDS THE NAVY
...and the NAVY NEEDS YOU!

Dates on the panels and the body paragraph are only partly legible; read as best possible.