---
title: '"He''s willing, he''s capable, and we need him - use him!!"'
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-hes-willing-capable-need-him-1943/
description: A pencil cartoon shows a Black factory worker in overalls holding a wrench, standing at an open door before a smoking plant.
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. "He's willing, he's capable, and we need him - use him!!"

**Content note:** A Black factory worker is shown being invited in by Uncle Sam, with the source's period term 'Negro' in the quoted news item. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

[!["He's willing, he's capable, and we need him - use him!!", 1943 US cartoon: A pencil cartoon shows a Black factory worker](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/owi-alston-hes-willing-capable-need-him-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/owi-alston-hes-willing-capable-need-him-1943.jpg)

# "He's willing, he's capable, and we need him - use him!!"

A pencil cartoon shows a Black factory worker in overalls holding a wrench, standing at an open door before a smoking plant, while a figure in a coat marked 'US' on its tails, evidently Uncle Sam, gestures him in toward a white-collar man at right. A quoted news item reports war agencies urging wider use of Black workers. The tell is transfer: Uncle Sam's authority is lent to an employment appeal addressed to employers.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/) [Transfer](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/transfer/)

## Text on the object

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

```
"NATIONAL WAR AGENCIES, ARMY AND NAVY DEPARTMENTS URGE MORE EXTENSIVE USE OF NEGRO WORKERS IN WAR INDUSTRIES"...... NEWS ITEM

"HE'S WILLING, HE'S CAPABLE, AND WE NEED HIM -- USE HIM!!"

Alston
```

[← Help me win my victory!! Join the March of Dimes!](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-help-me-win-my-victory-march-of-dimes-1943/) ["If you only knew what it meant!!" →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/owi-alston-if-you-only-knew-what-it-meant-1943/)

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- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [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)
- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial)
- [Estoire d'Eracles page with Bernard of Clairvaux preaching the Second Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 180v)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-bernard-preaching-second-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial)
- [Opening page of the Estoire d'Eracles (William of Tyre in French), with the Crucifixion and Pope Urban II preaching the First Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 1r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-urban-ii-preaching-first-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial, Transfer)