Archie Alexander - Builder of Bridges
A full-page illustrated biography: a large portrait of Archie Alexander with panels showing a bridge in Washington, D.C., Iowa football players, and a graduate beside a university building under an 'Iowa' pennant, each with a caption. The tell is the exemplary-individual format, where one person's career stands for what the audience is invited to admire.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Race and ethnicity, Economy and finance, 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, RG 208, OWI Cartoon Artworks and Mockups (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-77 (NAID 535621).
Text on the object
Now under construction is the new million dollar bridge across the tidal basin, in Washington, D.C. ALEXANDER IS NO NEWCOMER TO THE FIELD OF ENGINEERING. HIS FIRM HAS BUILT EVERYTHING FROM SEWAGE DISPOSAL PLANTS, TO POWER PLANTS AND AIRPORTS! -- AS WELL AS ABOUT HALF OF THE BRIDGES IN THE CITY OF DES MOINES, IOWA!! ARCHIE ALEXANDER BUILDER OF BRIDGES Alexander and his white partner, M.A. Repass, first met when they were teammates on the Iowa varsity. -- They have teamed successfully ever since!! YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU CAN DO UNTIL YOU TRY!! IOWA Warned by his professors of the difficulties confronting a Negro engineer, Alexander proudly returned to his alma mater, 12 years after graduation, and completed a million dollar contract! Alston-OWI 36 2/3 Picas
