He's Watching You
A menacing, disembodied German helmet and eyes loom over the phrase 'He's watching you,' with no context, unit, or evidence given for the claim of surveillance. The enemy's presence is asserted as an omnipresent, unlocated threat so any lapse in secrecy feels personally consequential.
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. government home-front security campaign; artist Glenn Grohe
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, Home front, War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Fear appealScapegoatingTransfer
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), via Wikimedia Commons, retrieved September 25, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Glenn Grohe, U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (1941-1945).
Text on the object
HE'S WATCHING YOU
