Sacrifice: The privilege of free men
Painted poster: a soldier in helmet and garrison cap, rifle on his back, leans from a train window and embraces a child, faces pressed together. Headline 'Sacrifice' with 'The privilege of free men' beneath. The tell is the abstract virtue word 'sacrifice' attached to a family farewell, a glittering generality carried by emotion.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Artists for Victory, Inc. (IBM Corp. award, National War Poster Competition); artist Nikol Schattenstein
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Mixed
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Home front, War and the military
- 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)
Artists for Victory, Inc.. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1657 (NAID 515324).
Text on the object
SACRIFICE THE PRIVILEGE OF FREE MEN WINNER INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORP. AWARD—NATIONAL WAR POSTER COMPETITION HELD UNDER AUSPICES OF ARTISTS FOR VICTORY, INC.—COUNCIL FOR DEMOCRACY—MUSEUM OF MODERN ART REPRODUCED THROUGH COURTESY OF ARTISTS FOR VICTORY, INC., NEW YORK, N.Y. [imprint: illegible small print, ending N.Y.C.] LITHOGRAPHED IN U.S.A. ON HOE SUPER-OFFSET PRESS BY GRINNELL LITHOGRAPHIC CO., NEW YORK, N.Y. [signature: Nikol Schattenstein]
