---
title: 'Make Your Own Declaration of War: Buy War Bonds'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/make-your-own-declaration-of-war-buy-war-bonds-1943/
description: A soldier points at the viewer beside a facsimile of the 8 December 1941 joint resolution declaring war on the Imperial Government of Japan, with the…
section: Collection
---

[Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)

[![Make Your Own Declaration of War: Buy War Bonds](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/make-your-own-declaration-of-war-buy-war-bonds-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/make-your-own-declaration-of-war-buy-war-bonds-1943.jpg)

# Make Your Own Declaration of War: Buy War Bonds

A soldier points at the viewer beside a facsimile of the 8 December 1941 joint resolution declaring war on the Imperial Government of Japan, with the signatures of Rayburn, Wallace and Roosevelt, above the line 'Buy war bonds'. The poster borrows the weight of the congressional declaration and signatures to turn bond buying into the reader's own act of war.

## Text on the object

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

```
MAKE YOUR OWN
Declaration of War

Seventy-seventh Congress of the United States of America;
At the First Session
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Friday, the third day of January, one thousand nine hundred and forty-one

JOINT RESOLUTION
Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same.

Whereas the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America: Therefore be it

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Government of Japan which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared; and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all of the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.

Sam Rayburn
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

H A Wallace
Vice President of the United States and President of the Senate.

Approved Dec. 8th 1941 4.10 p.m. E.S.T.
Franklin D Roosevelt

BUY WAR BONDS

VICTORY DISPLAY COMMITTEE
```

Signatures are handwritten facsimiles; the printed names are given as read from the scan. Imprint at foot: 'U.S. Government Printing Office 1943 O-491546 WSS 639' (number partly legible).

[← Make His Nightmare Come True!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/make-his-nightmare-come-true-kirby-army-1943/) [Materials Are Precious! Let's Make Every Piece Count! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/materials-are-precious-alexander-1943/)

## Using the same techniques

- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Gold coin of Kanishka: King of Kings legend, king at the altar, deity Oesho](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/gold-dinar-kanishka-king-of-kings-0130/) (Kushan Empire · 0130 · Transfer)
- [Gold solidus of Justinian I, reverse VICTORIA AVGGG with Victory holding a Christogram staff](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-justinian-i-victoria-avggg-0538/) (Byzantine Empire · 0538 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Bayeux Tapestry, scene 23: UBI HAROLD SACRAMENTVM FECIT VVILLELMO DVCI](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/bayeux-tapestry-harold-oath-to-william-1070/) (Kingdom of England · 1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [Mughal gold coin of Jahangir, dated 1028 AH, with a bull inside a ring of sun rays](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jahangir-gold-zodiac-coin-sun-rays-1619/) (Mughal Empire · 1619 · Transfer)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Consult of the doctors on the grave illness of the Grand Sultan (Consult vande medicijnen inde swaere siekte vanden grooten Sultaen)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/consult-of-the-doctors-sick-sultan-antwerp-1683/) (Spanish Netherlands · 1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [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)