"Don't repeat it! - Loose talk costs lives!!"
A Black sailor swims through the water toward two hands reaching up from below the surface, with a burning ship sinking behind him. The caption warns that careless talk costs lives. The tell is fear-appeal: a drowning scene stands in for the consequence of repeating military information.
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
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- Security and surveillance, 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 (NARA), RG 208, Artworks and Mockups for Cartoons Promoting the War Effort (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-138 (NAID 535651).
Text on the object
"DON'T REPEAT IT! - LOOSE TALK COSTS LIVES!!" [signed] Alston OWI
