---
title: Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right (Joe Dope took a tank)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-took-a-tank-1942/
description: 'Equipment-care cartoon for soldiers: a wrecked tank lies upside down at the foot of a cliff beside two crushed crewmen.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right (Joe Dope took a tank)

**Content note:** Cartoon shows two tank crewmen crushed and dead beneath a wrecked tank. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[![Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right, 1942 US poster: Equipment-care cartoon for soldiers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/joe-dope-took-a-tank-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/joe-dope-took-a-tank-1942.jpg)

# Don't be a dope! Handle equipment right (Joe Dope took a tank)

Equipment-care cartoon for soldiers: a wrecked tank lies upside down at the foot of a cliff beside two crushed crewmen, while three soldiers look down from the edge. The verse says 'Uncle Sam' now has one tank less and Joe is 'a permanent blank'. The slogan 'Don't be a dope!' is name-calling aimed at the careless driver; the fear-appeal is the dead crew.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Name-calling](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/name-calling/) [Fear appeal](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/fear-appeal/)

## Text on the object

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

```
At maneuvers Joe Dope took a tank
Hell bent o'er a 30-foot bank.
Uncle Sam, you can guess,
Now can boast one tank less-
As for Joe, he's a permanent blank!
[signature: PVT. Will Eisner]
Don't be a dope!
HANDLE EQUIPMENT RIGHT
[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1942-O-481419
[imprint:] ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT, U.S. ARMY
```

[← The tank crew is sore as a boil](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/joe-dope-tank-oil-1942/) [John Bull Has His Coat Off! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/john-bull-has-his-coat-off-uk-1942/)

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- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
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- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (Great Britain · 1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
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- [The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5th 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt.](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/revere-bloody-massacre-king-street-1770/) (Province of Massachusetts Bay · Mar 1770 · Name-calling, Card stacking). Content note: Hand-coloured engraving of bloodied dead and wounded colonists after soldiers fired on a crowd.
- [Marche du Dom Quichotte moderne pour la deffence du Moulin des Abus (March of the Modern Don Quixote in Defence of the Mill of Abuses)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dom-quichotte-moulin-des-abus-1791/) (France · 1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)