If it'll save a second, it's a great idea - let's have it! Short cuts can shorten the war

Three workers (a machinist, a grinder and a welder) are drawn beside a large stopwatch. The text asks workers to submit time-saving suggestions and says 'Short cuts can shorten the war'. The technique is faint here: a general appeal to speed and the common war effort, with no named enemy.

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Glittering generalities

Date: 1942
Period: Second World War
Made by: War Production Board
Region: North America
Country: United States
Medium: Poster
Issuer type: State
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)
War Production Board. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-134 (NAID 513582).

Text on the object

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

If it'll save a second . .
IT'S A GREAT IDEA-
let's have it!

SHORT CUTS CAN SHORTEN THE WAR

[imprint: WAR PRODUCTION BOARD, WASHINGTON, D.C.; remaining small print illegible]
[signature: illegible]