"The key!!"
A drawn arm labelled 'Negro war worker' holds a large key, its teeth inscribed with words, in the lock of a door marked 'Post war security'. The tell is a single abstract promise ('post war security') presented as attainable through wartime work, with the worker's labour as the key.
Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; artist Charles Alston)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- Labor, Race and ethnicity, Economy and finance
- 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 (NARA), RG 208, Artworks and Mockups for Cartoons Promoting the War Effort, retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-45 (NAID 535615).
Text on the object
POST WAR SECURITY NEGRO WAR WORKER Alston OWI "THE KEY!!" (Lettering on the key's teeth is not legible.)
