I Want You for U.S. Army
Uncle Sam, in a star-banded top hat and framed in red, white and blue, points straight out at the viewer under the words 'I Want You for U.S. Army.' The national personification makes the request, so the standing of the nation itself stands in for any case about why this viewer should enlist, which is the tell of transfer.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1917
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Army recruiting; James Montgomery Flagg (artist)
Full record
Region, Country, Medium, Issuer type, Regime, Leader, Audience, Purpose, Theme, Event, Source, Rights
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved September 27, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931)
Flagg, James Montgomery, 1877-1960, artist. 1917. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsc-03521.
Text on the object
Original (English) · read from the image, not independently checked
I WANT YOU FOR U.S. ARMY NEAREST RECRUITING STATION [illegible — small copyright imprint below the caption line]
James Montgomery Flagg's signature is visible near his right shoulder in the illustration. A line of small printed copyright text runs beneath 'NEAREST RECRUITING STATION' but is too small and low-contrast in this scan to read with confidence; marked illegible rather than guessed.
