Lock up these papers: The enemy is vigilant
Three government envelopes labelled Secret, Confidential and Restricted, each marked by a red arrow on a dark ground, under the headline 'Lock up these papers' and the line 'The enemy is vigilant'. The tell for fear-appeal is the unseen watching enemy asserted as the reason to secure documents, with no specific incident shown.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1945
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (OWI Poster No. 72)
- 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
- Themes
- Home front, Security and surveillance
- 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)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-206 (NAID 513649).
Text on the object
LOCK UP THESE PAPERS SECRET CONFIDENTIAL RESTRICTED THE ENEMY IS VIGILANT [envelope text, partly garbled in print:] OFFICE OF [illegible] / WASHINGTON, D.C. / OFFICIAL BUSINESS / PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE TO AVOID PAYMENT OF POSTAGE, $300 [imprint:] OWI Poster No. 72. Additional copies may be obtained upon request from the Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C. U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1945 -O- 533456
