Still at the top of the sick list
Health poster of the American Social Hygiene Association (Poster No. 3): a photograph of a long hospital ward of beds, a line graph for 1940 to 1944 whose line falls and ends in a large question mark, and a paragraph on Army venereal disease rates. The empty ward and the open question carry the warning (fear-appeal); the text itself states the rate is lower than in World War I.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1942
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- American Social Hygiene Association
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- NGO
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Warn or inform
- Themes
- Health, 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)
American Social Hygiene Association. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-1811 (NAID 515490).
Text on the object
STILL AT THE TOP OF THE SICK LIST WORLD WAR II 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 ? Though the Army's venereal disease rate rose in 1940 and '41, this trend was checked in 1942 and the rate for World War II is now much lower than in World War I. But syphilis and gonorrhea are still among the chief causes of lost time in the Army. The same is true of the Navy. [imprint: AMERICAN SOCIAL HYGIENE ASSOCIATION 1790 BROADWAY, N. Y. CITY, N. Y. POSTER NO. 3]
