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
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Petroleum Industry War Council (created by the Petroleum Administrator for War)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Labor, War and the military, Home front
- 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)
Petroleum Industry War Council. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1441 (NAID 515104).
Text on the object
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.
