---
title: '''Mission Accomplished'' banner on USS Abraham Lincoln'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mission-accomplished-banner-2003/
description: Sailors man the rails of USS Abraham Lincoln under the 'Mission Accomplished' banner that hung behind President George W. Bush on 1 May 2003, when he…
section: Collection
---

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

[!['Mission Accomplished' banner on USS Abraham Lincoln](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mission-accomplished-banner-2003.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mission-accomplished-banner-2003.jpg)

# 'Mission Accomplished' banner on USS Abraham Lincoln

Sailors man the rails of USS Abraham Lincoln under the 'Mission Accomplished' banner that hung behind President George W. Bush on 1 May 2003, when he landed aboard in a flight suit and announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq. The carrier, crew and banner lent the look of military victory to the address. The Iraq War went on, with U.S. combat operations until 2010 and U.S. forces in the country until 2011.

- **Date:** May 2, 2003
- **Period:** [Contemporary](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#era=contemporary)
- **Made by:** U.S. government (White House staff with the U.S. Navy)
- **Region:** [North America](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#region=north-america)
- **Country:** [United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#country=united-states)
- **Medium:** [Photograph](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#medium=photograph)
- **Issuer type:** [State](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#actor=state)
- **Regime:** [George W. Bush Administration](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#regime=george-w-bush-administration)
- **Leader:** [George W. Bush](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#leader=george-w-bush)
- **Audience:** [Domestic public](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#audience=domestic-public)
- **Purpose:** [Reassure](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#purpose=reassure)
- **Themes:** [War and the military](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=war-military), [Media and information](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#theme=media-information)
- **Event:** [Iraq War](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/#event=iraq-war)
- **Techniques:** [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)
- **Source:** Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- **Source:** [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Abraham_Lincoln_(CVN-72)_Mission_Accomplished.jpg), retrieved September 27, 2026
- **Rights:** Public domain (U.S. government work) U.S. Navy photo by PH3 Juan E. Diaz (030502-N-9214D-002).

## Text on the object

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

```
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
```

This is the only text visible on the banner itself in this photograph; no other printed text on the ship is legible.

[← Coalition leaflet warning Iraqi units not to use weapons of mass destruction](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/iraq-leaflet-do-not-use-wmd-2003/) ['What would you do?' Israel Defense Forces infographic →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/what-would-you-do-idf-infographic-2012/)

## 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/) (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/) (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/) (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/) (1070 · Transfer, Card stacking)
- [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/) (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/) (1683 · Transfer, Bandwagon)
- [The Highlanders Medley, or The Duke Triumphant (A Loyal Song)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/highlanders-medley-duke-triumphant-1746/) (1746 · Name-calling, Transfer)
- [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/) (1791 · Name-calling, Transfer)