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
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Putnam County Defense Council (Carmel, New York), woodcut by Frances O'Brien Garfield and Ernest Hamlin Baker
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor
- 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)
Putnam County Defense Council (Carmel, New York), woodcut by Frances O'Brien Garfield and Ernest Hamlin Baker. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1006 (NAID 514532).
Text on the object
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.
