Content note: A drawing of a Navy sailor kneeling over a fallen shipmate amid smoke on a warship, captioned with the period term 'Negro' for the honoured sailor, as published. This object is shown as it was published. Why
"Democracy in Action" No. IV (Leonard Roy Harmon)
A pencil drawing shows a sailor kneeling over a fallen shipmate amid smoke, with a ship named USS Harmon below. A news-item caption announces a Navy destroyer escort to be named for Leonard Roy Harmon, described as a Black hero of Guadalcanal. The heading 'Democracy in Action' attaches a national ideal to one individual's deed.
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
- Commemorate
- Themes
- War and the military, Race and ethnicity
- 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, Artworks and Mockups for Cartoons Promoting the War Effort, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-93 (NAID 535634).
Text on the object
NAVY TO NAME DESTROYER ESCORT FOR LEONARD ROY HARMON, NEGRO HERO IN THE BATTLE OF GUADALCANAL ..... NEWS ITEM "DEMOCRACY IN ACTION No. IV" USS HARMON Alston OWI
