---
title: How about it, do we back him up or leave him behind the 8-ball?
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/how-about-it-behind-the-8-ball-putnam-county/
description: 'Local defense-council woodcut on orange paper: a helmeted soldier in grass sights a rifle, under the question ''How about it.'
section: Collection
---

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3. How about it, do we back him up or leave him behind the 8-ball?

[![How about it, do we back him up or leave him behind the 8-ball?, 1941 US poster: Local defense-council woodcut on orange](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/how-about-it-behind-the-8-ball-putnam-county.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/how-about-it-behind-the-8-ball-putnam-county.jpg)

# How about it, do we back him up or leave him behind the 8-ball?

Local defense-council woodcut on orange paper: a helmeted soldier in grass sights a rifle, under the question 'How about it, do we back him up or leave him behind the 8-ball?'. The text answers for the reader ('there's only one answer if we call ourselves men') and asks for every job to get 'all we've got and then some', tying the viewer's self-image to the soldier's effort and presenting one response as the only one.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/) [Bandwagon](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/bandwagon/)

## Text on the object

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

```
HOW ABOUT IT
DO WE BACK HIM UP
OR LEAVE HIM BEHIND THE 8-BALL?
THERE'S ONLY ONE ANSWER
(IF WE CALL OURSELVES "MEN")
GIVE EACH JOB
ALL WE'VE GOT AND THEN SOME!
[signature: Frances]
Woodcut by Frances O'Brien Garfield and Ernest Hamlin Baker, designed for Putnam County Defense Council, Carmel, New York.
```

[← How a tree grows](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/how-a-tree-grows-forest-service/) [How not to win the war! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/how-not-to-win-the-war-safety-1941/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [A Little American's Promise](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/a-little-americans-promise-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion, Transfer)
- [All Together! Enlist in the Navy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/all-together-enlist-in-the-navy-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Bandwagon, Identity fusion)
- [Members of U.S. Food Administration: America Has Promised to Feed the Hungry Millions of Europe, Waste Nothing](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/america-food-pledge-20-million-tons-1917-1919/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion)
- [Do Your Duty. Join the U.S. Marines. Help Them Defend America on Land and Sea](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/do-your-duty-join-the-us-marines-1917-1919/) (United States · 1917 · Glittering generalities, Identity fusion)
- [50-50 (The Job of Beating Up the Hun)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/fifty-fifty-service-series-11-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Name-calling, Identity fusion)
- [Food Will Win the War: Member of United States Food Administration (Pledge Card)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/food-will-win-the-war-member-pledge-card-1917-1919/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion, Bandwagon)
- [Hit the Bull's Eye! Are You on This List? Get Your Name in the Circle: It's the Ring of Liberty](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hit-the-bulls-eye-ring-of-liberty-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Bandwagon, Identity fusion)
- [I Am a Soldier of the United States (Service Series No. 12)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/i-am-a-soldier-of-the-united-states-service-series-no-12-1917/) (United States · 1917 · Identity fusion, Glittering generalities)