--- title: Oil is ammunition! Oil workers are war workers! url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/oil-is-ammunition-oil-workers-are-war-workers-1943/ description: Text-only broadside that repeats 'oil is ammunition' down three lists (war machines, war products, the war at home). section: Collection --- 1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/) 2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/) 3. Oil is ammunition! Oil workers are war workers! [![Oil is ammunition! Oil workers are war workers!, 1943 US poster: Text-only broadside that repeats 'oil is ammunition' down](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/oil-is-ammunition-oil-workers-are-war-workers-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/oil-is-ammunition-oil-workers-are-war-workers-1943.jpg) # Oil is ammunition! Oil workers are war workers! Text-only broadside that repeats 'oil is ammunition' down three lists (war machines, war products, the war at home), then quotes a February 1943 McNutt and Ickes statement asking oil employees to stay in their jobs. The tell is transfer: the metaphor moves the weight of ammunition onto fuel, and the closing line 'Oil workers are war workers' fuses job and war role. ## 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 ``` OIL IS AMMUNITION!... for WAR MACHINES oil is ammunition for PLANES oil is ammunition for FIGHTING TANKS oil is ammunition for SUBMARINES oil is ammunition for PEEPS and JEEPS oil is ammunition for FIGHTING SHIPS oil is ammunition for CARGO and TRANSPORT SHIPS oil is ammunition for MILITARY TRUCKS and CARS as WAR PRODUCTS oil is ammunition as SUPER AVIATION FUEL oil is ammunition as EXPLOSIVES oil is ammunition as SYNTHETIC RUBBER for the WAR AT HOME oil is ammunition for WAR PLANTS oil is ammunition for WAR WORKERS' CARS oil is ammunition for THE FARMER oil is ammunition for LOCOMOTIVES oil is ammunition for HEATING HOMES and OFFICES oil is ammunition for KEEPING AMERICA ON WHEELS oil is ammunition for SUPPORTING CIVILIAN MORALE Many other petroleum product uses not enumerated are an essential part of our war program Manpower Commission Chairman Paul V. McNutt and Petroleum Administrator for War Harold L. Ickes, on February 9, 1943, in a joint public statement said: "Reports are being received in Washington from a few places to the effect that oil company employees misunderstood the War Manpower Commission's recent statement about non-deferable occupations. "The reports are that oil, natural gas and gasoline company employees engaged in vital and essential jobs in that industry failed to report for work and instead were seeking employment in munitions plants or some other kind of work which they thought was listed as more essential by the War Manpower Commission. "Petroleum is regarded as one of the most essential of war industries and has been so designated previously by the War Manpower Commission. Bulletins issued by the WMC to local United States Employment Service Offices, and Selective Service Occupational Bulletins Nos. 15 and 21, issued in August and September, 1942, for the guidance of local draft boards and of employers, list 179 specific classes of jobs in the petroleum and natural gas industry and its transportation service which are directly classed as essential activities. "Oil and natural gas are vital to this war and it does not help to win the war for men who have long been trained and skilled in this industry to leave their present jobs. We wish to emphasize that while planes, tanks, and ships fight the battles, they cannot fight without oil to fuel them. The production, refining, transportation, and distribution of oil and gas are all necessary." OIL IS AMMUNITION . . . It is an indispensable source of power and lubrication. Oceans of it must be supplied by America's petroleum industry . . . OIL IS AMMUNITION . . . Adequate experienced manpower is essential to the production, manufacture, transportation, and distribution of this ammunition . . . OIL IS AMMUNITION—AND OIL WORKERS ARE WAR WORKERS! PETROLEUM INDUSTRY WAR COUNCIL (Created by the Petroleum Administrator for War) WILLIAM R. BOYD, JR., Chairman 1625 K STREET, N. W., WASHINGTON, D. C. ``` [← Official Copper Brass Bronze Depot](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/official-depot-copper-brass-bronze-1943/) [On the offensive: Do more for victory in 1943! →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/on-the-offensive-victory-news-1943/) ## 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)