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
- Date
- 1943
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Office of War Information (cartoon artwork; named artist in notes)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Cartoon
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Persuade or win support
- Themes
- War and the military, Home front, Race and ethnicity
- 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, OWI cartoon artworks (NAID 535594), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- Public domain (U.S. government work)
Charles Alston, Office of War Information. National Archives and Records Administration, RG 208, 208-COM-194 (NAID 535677).
Text on the object
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
