Content note: "Hun" epithet for Germans in a headline reporting the killing of women and children. This object is shown as it was published. Why
Tell That to the Marines!
A civilian in shirtsleeves and waistcoat tears off his jacket, fists clenched, his hat thrown down beside a newspaper whose headline reads 'Huns kill women and children!' The tell of name-calling is that the epithet carries the story: no place, date or act is named, only 'Huns', and the man's anger is the whole argument for walking to the recruiting office at 24 East 23rd Street.
- Date
- 1918
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Marine Corps recruiting (New York); James Montgomery Flagg (artist)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Theme
- War and the military
- Event
- World War I
- Techniques
- Name-calling
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Library of Congress, retrieved September 27, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain in the U.S. (published before 1931)
Flagg, James Montgomery, 1877-1960, artist. 1918. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsca-18600.
Text on the object
TELL THAT TO THE MARINES! AT 24 EAST 23rd STREET [on the newspaper, small dateline above the headline] [illegible] HUNS KILL WOMEN AND CHILDREN! James Montgomery Flagg
A small handwritten dateline above the main newspaper headline (starting 'Via Cable from...') is too small and loosely brushed in this scan to transcribe confidently.
