Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
We Have Not Died in Vain!, 1943 US cartoon: Four standing Ethiopian figures, one holding a rifle and one a child, appear

We Have Not Died in Vain!

Four standing Ethiopian figures, one holding a rifle and one a child, appear beside a grave and a cross inscribed 'In memory of Ethiopians killed by Mussolini'. A news item below reads 'Unrest sweeps Italy as Mussolini flees'. The tell is transfer: the memory of the dead is attached to current news of the Axis collapse to frame it as vindication.

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
Persuade or win support
Themes
War and the military, Empire and colonialism, 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 and Records Administration, Record Group 208, OWI War Effort Cartoon Artworks (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-139 (NAID 535652).

Text on the object

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

IN MEMORY OF ETHIOPIANS KILLED BY MUSSOLINI
"UNREST" SWEEPS ITALY AS MUSSOLINI FLEES."
NEWS ITEM
Alston OWI
"WE HAVE NOT DIED IN VAIN!"

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