---
title: William E. Lew (Charles Alston profile, OWI) (undated, c. 1942-1945, OWI)
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/william-e-lew-alston-owi-1943/
description: 'Undated: NARA gives no date; c. 1942-1945 from the OWI series. A pencil portrait of an elderly bespectacled man, William E. Lew.'
section: Collection
---

1. [Home](https://propagandaarchive.org/)
2. [Collection](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/)
3. William E. Lew (Charles Alston profile, OWI)

[![William E. Lew (Charles Alston profile, OWI), 1943 US cartoon: Undated](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/william-e-lew-alston-owi-1943.jpg)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/images/william-e-lew-alston-owi-1943.jpg)

# William E. Lew (Charles Alston profile, OWI) (undated, c. 1942-1945, OWI)

Undated: NARA gives no date; c. 1942-1945 from the OWI series. A pencil portrait of an elderly bespectacled man, William E. Lew, is surrounded by three small scenes with hand-lettered text: a 78-year-old air raid warden who joined the Merchant Marine, a bandleader at George Washington's inauguration, and Revolutionary soldiers at Bunker Hill. The sheet holds up one named individual and his family's service in every American war as an example for the viewer, a testimonial-style profile.

## Propaganda techniques used in this cartoon

[Testimonial](https://propagandaarchive.org/techniques/testimonial/)

## Text on the object

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

```
A sailor forty years ago, seventy eight year old Bill Lew found an air raid warden's job too tame for a man of his years, so he joined the Merchant Marine! "They wanted men, I call myself a man, so here I am," he said.

WILLIAM E. LEW

A noted musician himself, his great, great grandfather, with a band composed of his own children, played at George Washington's inauguration!

The Lew family, well known in Boston, Charleston, and Washington, boasts at least one of its members in every war this country has ever fought.- Both of his great, great, grandfathers were at Bunker Hill !!

Alston OWI
```

[← Why We Fight: The Battle of Britain (film frame)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/why-we-fight-battle-of-britain-1943/) [Women 20 to 36. Earn a Navy rating. Join the WAVES →](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/women-20-to-36-earn-a-navy-rating-1943/)

## More propaganda examples that use the same techniques

- [Behistun (Bisotun) rock relief and trilingual inscription of Darius I: the king, two attendants and the bound rebel leaders beneath the winged figure of Ahuramazda](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/behistun-relief-darius-and-rebels-521bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Card stacking, Name-calling, Testimonial). Content note: Shows bound captives before the king, and the inscription records the mutilation and public execution of rebel leaders, as the king's own account.
- [Tomb of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rustam: the king in relief beside his inscription DNa, c. 490 BCE](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/dna-inscription-darius-i-naqsh-e-rustam-490bce/) (Achaemenid Empire · 0000 · Testimonial, Card stacking)
- [Seated limestone statue of Hatshepsut as king, with feminine royal titles on the throne, reassembled from fragments broken up at Deir el-Bahri](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/hatshepsut-seated-statue-limestone-met-1458bce/) (New Kingdom Egypt · 0000 · Transfer, Testimonial)
- [Bronze sestertius of Gaius (Caligula), reverse S P Q R P P OB CIVES SERVATOS in an oak wreath](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/sestertius-caligula-ob-cives-servatos-0037/) (Roman Empire · 0037 · Testimonial, Transfer)
- [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)
- [Seljuq gold dinar of Sanjar, dated 493 AH, with the Abbasid caliph named on one face](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/seljuq-gold-dinar-sanjar-caliph-name-1099/) (Great Seljuk Empire · 1099 · Testimonial)
- [Estoire d'Eracles page with Bernard of Clairvaux preaching the Second Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 180v)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-bernard-preaching-second-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial)
- [Opening page of the Estoire d'Eracles (William of Tyre in French), with the Crucifixion and Pope Urban II preaching the First Crusade in the initial (Walters W.137, fol. 1r)](https://propagandaarchive.org/collection/eracles-urban-ii-preaching-first-crusade-w137-1275/) (France · 1275 · Testimonial, Transfer)