Content note: Ink caricature heads of Hitler, a Japanese man drawn with exaggerated racial features (round glasses, bared teeth) and Mussolini, shown as printed. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Men to fight the Axis, men to build: planes, tanks, ships, guns
Two-part poster. 'Men to fight the Axis' sits over three ink caricature heads (Hitler, a Japanese man with round glasses and bared teeth, and a heavy-jawed Mussolini); 'Men to build' sits over rows of planes, tanks, ships and guns. The distorted faces are name-calling by image; the rows of equipment show output and leave out cost or loss (card-stacking).
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Government Printing Office issue (issuer not named on sheet)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Themes
- War and the military, Labor, Race and ethnicity
- 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)
U.S. Government. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1348 (NAID 515002).
Text on the object
MEN TO FIGHT THE AXIS MEN TO BUILD: PLANES TANKS SHIPS GUNS [imprint: ☆ U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943—O—544305]
