Forensic Research Archive of Manipulation and Exploitation
'Rumbo a Tokio' [Road to Tokyo], 1944 US poster: A photograph of the US battleship Iowa firing its main guns fills the sheet

'Rumbo a Tokio' [Road to Tokyo]

A photograph of the US battleship Iowa firing its main guns fills the sheet, with a globe map of the Pacific showing red arrows of possible US attack routes and a map of Japan marking cities and industrial and resource centres. The maps present only the US-force approach routes and Japan's strategic targets (card-stacking), and the warship photograph lends the force's weight to the map claims (transfer).

Propaganda techniques used in this poster

Card stackingTransfer
Date
1944
Period
Second World War
Made by
US federal government (NARA RG 44 series); artist A. V. G.; printed by the US Government Printing Office
Region
North America
Country
United States
Medium
Poster
Issuer type
State
Regime
Roosevelt Administration
Leader
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Audience
Foreign public
Purpose
Persuade or win support
Theme
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 Foreign Posters, retrieved October 3, 2026
Rights
Public domain (U.S. government work, NARA RG 44 OWI series)
US Government Printing Office; artist A. V. G., 1944. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44 (NAID 44268205, 44-PF-853).

Text on the object

Original (Spanish) · read from the image, not independently checked

RUMBO A TOKIO

En estos mapas de la guerra del Pacífico se ven las grandes distancias que hay que recorrer para combatir al Japón. Las flechas del mapa global constituyen cuatro principales preocupaciones para los jefes militares japoneses e indican las posibles direcciones que llevarán los ataques de las fuerzas norteamericanas contra el Japón. En el mapa del Japón aparecen las ciudades y centros industriales estratégicos.

Cañones del acorazado IOWA
de los EE. UU. disparando en el Pacífico

[globe map labels:] U.S.S.R.; IS. ALEUTAS; CANADÁ; JAPÓN; MAYOR AVANCE JAPONÉS; CHINA; IS. BONIN; FORMOSA; IS. MARIANAS SAIPAN GUAM; U.S.A.; HAWAII; INDIA; IS. FILIPINAS; IS. MARSHALL; ZONA DEL CANAL; I. COCOS; IS. GILBERT; IS. GALÁPAGOS; AMÉRICA DEL SUR; IS. SALOMÓN; OC. ÍNDICO; TIMOR; AUSTRALIA; I. DE PASCUA; NUEVA ZELANDIA
[Japan map labels:] JAPÓN; HOKKAIDO; HUNSHU; KYUSHU; Sapporo; Hakodate; Sendai; Tokio; Yokohama; Shizuoka; Nagoya; Kyoto; Kobe; Osaka; Hiroshima; Kure; Fukuoka; Omura; Nagasaki; HULLA; PETROLEO; FRIJOL; TRIGO; ARROZ; PLOMO; HIERRO; COBRE; CERAMICA; SEDA; PLATA; ALGODON; GANADERIA; ORO

[imprint:] U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1944—O—[illegible]

English translation (machine translation by Claude, not verified by a fluent reader)

ROAD TO TOKYO

These maps of the Pacific war show the great distances that must be travelled to fight Japan. The arrows on the global map are four main concerns for the Japanese military chiefs and indicate the possible directions the attacks of the North American forces against Japan will take. The map of Japan shows the strategic cities and industrial centres.

Guns of the US battleship IOWA firing in the Pacific

[map labels in Spanish as above; e.g. MAYOR AVANCE JAPONÉS = GREATEST JAPANESE ADVANCE; IS. = islands; HULLA = coal; PETROLEO = oil; FRIJOL = beans; TRIGO = wheat; ARROZ = rice; PLOMO = lead; HIERRO = iron; COBRE = copper; SEDA = silk; PLATA = silver; ALGODON = cotton; GANADERIA = cattle; ORO = gold]

More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

Fragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouchesNew Kingdom EgyptFragments of the Abydos king list from Ramesses II's temple, in the British Museum: rows of royal cartouches0000 · Card stacking, TransferBehistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of AhuramazdaAchaemenid EmpireBehistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, TestimonialContent noteTomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCEAchaemenid EmpireTomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE0000 · Testimonial, Card stackingLine drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of EgyptNew Kingdom EgyptLine drawing of the Great Kadesh battle relief on the walls of the Ramesseum, from Breasted's History of Egypt0000 · Card stacking, TransferContent notePersepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCEAchaemenid EmpirePersepolis, Apadana staircase relief: a figure with an animal from a procession of delegations, early fifth century BCE0000 · Card stacking, Manufactured consensusAlabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)Neo Assyrian EmpireAlabaster relief, Assyrian troops storming a citadel, from Nineveh (reign of Sennacherib)0000 · Card stackingContent noteColour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)Roman EmpireColour lithograph of the Latin text of the Res Gestae Divi Augusti on the wall of the temple of Roma and Augustus at Ancyra, with the heading in large letters (Perrot, Guillaume and Delbet, 1872)0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalitiesSilver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning womanRoman EmpireSilver denarius of Vespasian, reverse IVDAEA with a trophy of arms and a seated mourning woman0070 · Card stackingContent note