---
title: Want action? Join U.S. Marine Corps!
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/want-action-join-marine-corps-1941/
description: 'Marine Corps recruiting poster: a painted smiling Marine in helmet and khaki, rifle with bayonet in one hand and the other open toward the viewer.'
section: Collection
---

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3. Want action? Join U.S. Marine Corps!

[![Want action? Join U.S. Marine Corps!, 1941 US poster: Marine Corps recruiting poster](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/want-action-join-marine-corps-1941.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/want-action-join-marine-corps-1941.jpg)

# Want action? Join U.S. Marine Corps!

Marine Corps recruiting poster: a painted smiling Marine in helmet and khaki, rifle with bayonet in one hand and the other open toward the viewer, ships and an aircraft behind him. The headline asks 'Want action?' and then 'join U.S. Marine Corps!'. The tell is an appeal to excitement and adventure, with an approachable, friendly figure inviting the viewer.

## Propaganda techniques used in this poster

[Glittering generalities](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/glittering-generalities/) [Plain folks](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/plain-folks/)

## Text on the object

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

```
WANT ACTION?
join
U·S·Marine Corps!
[signature: James Montgomery Flagg]
APPLY TO NEAREST RECRUITING STATION
[imprint: Alpha Lithograph Co., Camden, N.J. 3-12-43 10M  436 PB]
```

[← V = Duitschland wint voor Europa op alle fronten (V = Germany wins for Europe on all fronts)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/v-duitschland-wint-voor-europa-1941/) [War Production Drive (two donkeys, no headline) →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/war-production-drive-donkeys-1941/)

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- [Colour 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)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/lithograph-res-gestae-ancyra-heading-0014/) (Roman Empire · 0014 · Card stacking, Glittering generalities)
- [Bronze sestertius of Trajan, reverse S P Q R OPTIMO PRINCIPI, S C, the emperor on horseback riding down an enemy](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-trajan-optimo-principi-0103/) (Roman Empire · 0103 · Testimonial, Glittering generalities)
- [Gold solidus of Constantine I, reverse RESTITVTORI LIBERTATIS](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/solidus-constantine-i-restitutori-libertatis-0313/) (Roman Empire · 0313 · Glittering generalities)
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- [Medal of Elizabeth I: portrait in a ruff, reverse an ark on stormy waves with SAEVAS TRANQVILLA PER VNDAS (18th-century aftercast of a 1588 model)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/elizabeth-i-ark-medal-aftercast-1588/) (England · 1588 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
- [Frontispiece to Eikon Basilike, The Pourtraicture of His Sacred Majestie in his Solitudes and Sufferings (Hollar, 1649)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eikon-basilike-frontispiece-hollar-1649/) (Dutch Republic · 1649 · Transfer, Glittering generalities)
