Content note: Caricatured Axis leaders, the Japanese figure with racialised features, and chained captives. This object is shown as it was published. Why
U.S. Bonds. Axis Bonds. Take Your Choice
Two-panel U.S. war bonds poster headed 'U.S. Bonds' (left) and 'Axis Bonds' (right), with 'Take your choice' below. Left: Uncle Sam holds a fan of bonds beneath the Statue of Liberty, with a cheering crowd at his feet. Right: caricatures of Mussolini, Hitler and a Japanese officer (round glasses, wide grin) stand arm in arm, a chain running from their boots to a group of shackled, ragged figures below. The image sets national symbols against enslavement (transfer, fear-appeal) and renders the three leaders as caricatures, the Japanese figure with racialised features (name-calling).
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- U.S. Treasury Department (War Bonds campaign)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Event
- World War II
- Techniques
- Fear appealName-callingTransfer
- Regime
- Roosevelt administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration), retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, War Bonds series. Sourced via Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
U.S. BONDS AXIS BONDS TAKE YOUR CHOICE
Only the headings and the closing line are printed; the bonds held by Uncle Sam carry the small repeated legend 'U.S. Bonds'. No artist signature or credit is visible.
