You Buy a Liberty Bond, Lest I Perish: Get Behind the Government
The Statue of Liberty, drawn as an anxious living figure, points straight out of the sheet at the viewer under the words 'YOU buy a LIBERTY BOND', and the poster closes with 'Lest I perish'. The tell is the personified symbol speaking in the first person: the threat to the nation's emblem is attached to the viewer's individual purchase.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1917
- Period
- First World War
- Made by
- U.S. Treasury Department (Liberty Loan campaign)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Wilson Administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Fundraise
- Themes
- War and the military, Economy and finance, Home front
- Event
- World War I
- Regime
- Wilson administration
- Leader
- Woodrow Wilson
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- U.S. National Archives (NARA), RG 4 (U.S. Food Administration), World War I Posters (NAID 512439), retrieved October 3, 2026
- Rights
- NARA Unrestricted; hosted by owner decision
U.S. Treasury Department (Liberty Loan campaign). National Archives and Records Administration, 4-P-232.
Text on the object
YOU buy a LIBERTY BOND LEST I PERISH GET BEHIND THE GOVERNMENT / LIBERTY LOAN OF 1917 (two identical roundels) C. R. Macauley
The signature at centre right reads 'C. R. Macauley'. The roundel text curves around the seal and is read here from both seals.
