Private Tom says: Folks back home who take time off needlessly
A smiling soldier in a helmet and shirtsleeves carries a shell toward a gun breech against a flat red ground, with a quoted speech in his name about home-front workers who take time off 'needlessly'. The soldier is the speaker, a testimonial that presents the absence of an unspecified 'fair share' as a failing.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Think American Institute (Kelly-Read & Co., Rochester); artist C. R. Miller
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Corporation
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, Labor
- 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 44, World War II Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Think American Institute. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1551 (NAID 515216).
Text on the object
Private Tom says: "Folks back home who take time off—needlessly— aren't carrying their fair share of our fight for Victory." [signature:] C R MILLER [imprint:] THINKAMERICAN INSTITUTE, REG. U.S. PAT. OFF. [imprint:] No. 151 — COPYRIGHT — KELLY-READ & CO., ROCHESTER, N[illegible]
