Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
"Spend that vacation at home!!", 1943 US cartoon: A woman reads in a garden chair while a man tends a plot and a boy plays

"Spend that vacation at home!!"

A woman reads in a garden chair while a man tends a plot and a boy plays with a toy aeroplane. A quoted news item says unnecessary travel impedes movement of the armed forces, and the caption urges vacationing at home. The quotation lends military need to a civilian travel restriction.

Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

Transfer
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
Mobilize or secure compliance
Themes
Home front, Economy and finance
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-137 (NAID 535650).

Text on the object

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

"UNNECESSARY TRAVEL IMPEDES MOVEMENT OF OUR ARMED FORCES..."
NEWS ITEM

"SPEND THAT VACATION AT HOME!!"
Alston OWI

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