If you tell where he's going... He may never get there!
A smiling sailor in dress blues looks back over his shoulder with a heavily loaded seabag on his shoulder; a red panel reads 'If you tell where he's going... He may never get there!'. The cheerful figure sets up the warning that repeating ship movements could cost his life, a fear-appeal directed at civilians' talk.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (distributed for the issuing agency); artist John Falter, USNR
- 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, War and the military, Home front
- 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)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-188 (NAID 513634).
Text on the object
If you tell where he's going... He may never get there! [signature:] JOHN FALTER USNR [imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943- O-556153 [imprint:] Distributed for the Issuing Agency by the Office of War Information
