We have just begun to fight!
A painted, mud-streaked soldier with a bayonet rifle shouts with one arm raised; beside him is a list of ten battles from Pearl Harbor to Tunisia under the headline 'We have just begun to fight!'. The list names engagements with no outcomes or casualty figures, so setbacks and successes read as one run of effort, a selective presentation (card-stacking). The slogan itself is a general rallying phrase.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Mobilize or secure compliance
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front
- 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 Posters, retrieved October 4, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-85 (NAID 513546).
Text on the object
We have just begun to fight! PEARL HARBOR BATAAN CORAL SEA MIDWAY GUADALCANAL NEW GUINEA BISMARCK SEA CASABLANCA ALGIERS TUNISIA [imprint: OWI Poster No. 62. Additional copies may be obtained upon request from the Division of Public Inquiries, Office of War Information, Washington, D.C.] [imprint: U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE : 1943--O--527284]
Imprint lines at the foot are tiny; the GPO number is read with moderate confidence.
