Content note: Cartoon of a giant skeletal Death figure with a blood-dripping scythe over a town and factories. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Saboteur!
Safety sheet reprinting a newspaper cartoon: a giant skeleton in a hooded robe marked 'Accidental Death' swings a scythe over a town and factories, with labels giving 40,000 automobile and 19,200 industrial fatalities 'last year'. The headline calls it 'Saboteur!'. The technique is fear-appeal, with name-calling that gives accidents the wartime label.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- National Committee for Conservation of Man-Power in War Industries, U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards (cartoon by Corkley)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Labor, Home front, Health
- 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)
National Committee for Conservation of Man-Power in War Industries, U.S. Department of Labor, Division of Labor Standards. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1655 (NAID 515322).
Text on the object
SABOTEUR! NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR CONSERVATION OF MAN-POWER IN WAR INDUSTRIES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DIVISION OF LABOR STANDARDS 40,000 FATALITIES FROM AUTOMOBILE ACCIDENTS-LAST YEAR 19,200 FATALITIES FROM INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENTS-LAST YEAR ACCIDENTAL DEATH "Not all of us can participate in direct action against our enemies, but all of us can participate in the saving of our national manpower" ~ President Roosevelt [signature:] CORKLEY REPRINTED THROUGH THE COURTESY OF THE WASHINGTON POST
