---
title: Mr. American, your country is at WAR
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mr-american-your-country-is-at-war-navy-1942/
description: 'Navy appeal to defense-plant workers: an Uncle Sam figure points straight out of the sheet above a block of text telling the worker that lives depend'
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. Mr. American, your country is at WAR

[![Mr. American, your country is at WAR, 1942 US poster: Navy appeal to defense-plant workers](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mr-american-your-country-is-at-war-navy-1942.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/mr-american-your-country-is-at-war-navy-1942.jpg)

# Mr. American, your country is at WAR

Navy appeal to defense-plant workers: an Uncle Sam figure points straight out of the sheet above a block of text telling the worker that lives depend on every minute on the job. Technique: transfer, Uncle Sam as national authority, and identity-fusion in the closing line that work is necessary 'to America'.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/) [Identity fusion](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/identity-fusion/)

## Text on the object

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

```
Mr. American
WAR
Your country is at WAR, and so are you.
Your buddies and friends are giving their lives perhaps
this very minute for YOU and for YOUR HOME.
Every minute you lose on your job is a minute lost for them.
Can you afford to have their lives on your conscience when
they depend on you to produce for them ?
Give them a full time shift from whistle blow to whistle blow.
Shift your clothes, stow your effects, get your tools, and be ready
to start your work with a bang - AND DO IT ON YOUR OWN TIME!
Keep inside your lunch period - and SNAP BACK ON THE JOB!
Don't be a clock watcher. Work right up to the end of your shift -
AND THEN MAKE PREPARATIONS FOR DEPARTURE ON YOUR OWN TIME.
Generate the WILL TO WORK, my friend, and remind yourself every
minute that you're AN AMERICAN, and that YOUR work is
desperately necessary to AMERICA.
[signature: Frank Knox]
THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY
[imprint: NAVY S.O. PUBLICATIONS]
[imprint: U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1942-O-461018]
```

[← More tomahawks for our united warriors. Buy war bonds](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/more-tomahawks-for-our-united-warriors-student-bond-posters-1942/) [Mrs America buys clothes with care →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/mrs-america-buys-clothes-with-care-1942/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/abydos-king-list-ramesses-ii-temple-british-museum/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer)
- [Clay cylinder with the Ehulhul inscription of Nabonidus, king of Babylon, describing work on three temples](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/cylinder-nabonidus-ehulhul-inscription-555bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Glazed-brick panel with a striding lion, from Babylon (reign of Nebuchadnezzar II)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/ishtar-gate-panel-striding-lion-nebuchadnezzar-ii-604bce/) (Neo Babylonian Empire · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Limestone relief block of Ramesses II wearing the White Crown, a jubilee relief from his temple at Herakleopolis](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/jubilee-relief-ramesses-ii-herakleopolis-met-05-4-256/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer)
- [Line drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/kadesh-relief-ramesseum-breasted-drawing-1275bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Card stacking, Transfer). Content note: A drawing of an Egyptian royal battle relief showing Hittite soldiers and horses killed and drowned, as the king's monument presented the battle; it is a one-sided image made by the winning side's own account.
- [Gypsum alabaster slab inscribed in cuneiform, from Nimrud (Kalhu), reign of Ashurnasirpal II](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/nimrud-slab-ashurnasirpal-ii-inscription-883bce/) (Neo Assyrian Empire · 0000 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Egyptian alabaster jar inscribed with the name of Xerxes the Great in four languages (Old Persian, Elamite, Babylonian, Egyptian), 486 to 466 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/xerxes-jar-four-languages-486bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Transfer)