Know for sure, get a blood test for syphilis
Public-health poster in airbrushed teal, red and orange: a bare shoulder and upper arm with a black tourniquet tied above the elbow, with 'know for sure' and 'get a blood test for SYPHILIS' below. The technique is faint; the tourniquet implies the test, and the fear is only implied by naming the disease.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- United States Public Health Service; artist Karsakov
- 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
- Theme
- Health
- 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)
United States Public Health Service. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1228 (NAID 514834).
Text on the object
know for sure- get a blood test for SYPHILIS [signature: KARSAKOV] UNITED STATES PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE 13
