Content note: Battlefield leaflet exploiting the death of a head of state and threatening suicide attacks. This object is shown as it was published. Why
'American Officers and Men' (Japanese leaflet on the death of President Roosevelt, Okinawa)
A hand-lettered English leaflet addressed 'American Officers and Men', photographed in its frame with a museum label. It opens with regret at President Roosevelt's death, then claims 70% of U.S. carriers and 73% of battleships are sunk or damaged with 150,000 casualties, and says the 'special attack corps will sink your vessels to the last destroyer'. The tell is the sequence of claimed losses followed by a stated future attack on the reader's own ships.
- Date
- 1945
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Imperial Japanese forces, Okinawa (issuing unit not stated on the object)
- Region
- East Asia
- Country
- Empire of Japan
- Medium
- Leaflet
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Showa Japan
- Leader
- Kantaro Suzuki
- Audience
- Enemy forces
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Fear appeal
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (image credited to U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command, accession 65-258-A), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY 2.0 (photograph, Commons file page); leaflet is an anonymous Japanese wartime work
Photograph: Naval History & Heritage Command, Washington, DC (Curator Branch, accession 65-258-A), CC BY 2.0.
Text on the object
American Officers and Men We must express our deep regret over the death of President Roosevelt. The "American Tragedy" is now raised here at Okinawa with his death. You must have seen 70% of your CV's and 73% of your B's sunk or be damaged causing 150,000 casualties. Not only the late President but anyone else would die in the excess of worry to hear such an annihilative damage. The dreadful loss that led your late leader to death will make you orphans on this island. The Japanese special attack corps will sink your vessels to the last destroyer. You will witness it realized in the near future.
Hand-lettered text read from a 640 x 480 photograph; the abbreviation after '73% of your' could be 'B's' or 'BB's'. The museum label below the leaflet ('Japanese propaganda leaflet found by troops of the 7th Infantry Division on Okinawa, 23 April 1945 ... ten days after the death of President Roosevelt.') is not part of the leaflet and is not transcribed.
