Joe Dope isn't bughouse or lazy
Preventive-maintenance cartoon for soldiers: a truck-and-trailer jackknifes into a utility pole while a military policeman is flung over the trailer, with a verse about an unfixed brake-line connection. The tell is the consequence shown in the crash plus the 'Don't be a dope!' label, a fear-appeal with name-calling softened by comic verse.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1944
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Ordnance Department, U.S. Army
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Own forces
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Theme
- War and the military
- 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)
Ordnance Department, U.S. Army. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1143DD (NAID 514694).
Text on the object
Joe Dope isn't bug- house or lazy, When he stopped...the trailer went crazy, The brake line connection, Merely needed correction, On vital P.M.* ...he's quite hazy. * Preventive Maintenance Don't be a dope! HANDLE EQUIPMENT RIGHT [signature: ORDNANCE] [imprint:] U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1944-O-62235
