Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
It's a woman's war too! Join the WAVES, 1943 US poster: Navy recruiting poster

It's a woman's war too! Join the WAVES

Navy recruiting poster: a woman in a Navy uniform with headset sits at a telegraph key against a black ground, beside the words 'Join the WAVES' and 'Your country needs you now'. The technique is faint here; the closest is a broad appeal to national duty without specifics, paired with a direct address to women.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Glittering generalities
Date
1943
Period
Second World War
Made by
U.S. Navy (artist John Falter, USNR)
Region
North America
Country
United States
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
Military
Regime
Roosevelt Administration
Leader
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience
Domestic public
Purpose
Recruit
Themes
War and the military, Gender and suffrage
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)
U.S. Navy. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1122 (NAID 514649).

Text on the object

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

IT'S A
WOMAN'S WAR
TOO!
JOIN THE
WAVES
YOUR COUNTRY NEEDS YOU NOW
APPLY TO YOUR NEAREST NAVY RECRUITING STATION
OR OFFICE OF NAVAL OFFICER PROCUREMENT
[signature:] JOHN FALTER USNR
[imprint:] ORDER NO. 28
[imprint:] NRB-36242-6-4-43-37M. (Lot [illegible])

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