Your Ears & Eyes Can Save Lives: Volunteer! For Civilian Defense
Black and white woodcut poster: a man in a hat seen from behind raises binoculars toward formations of aircraft, under the headline 'Your Ears & Eyes Can Save Lives' and the call 'Volunteer! For Civilian Defense'. The technique is faint: the approaching aircraft imply a threat (fear-appeal) while the ask is a local volunteer post.
Propaganda techniques used in this poster
- Date
- 1941
- Period
- Second World War
- Made by
- Putnam County War Council, Carmel, N.Y. (woodcut by Frances O'Brien Garfield and Ernest Hamlin Baker)
- Region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Medium
- Poster
- Issuer type
- State
- Regime
- Roosevelt Administration
- Leader
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Themes
- Home front, Security and surveillance
- 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)
Putnam County War Council, Carmel, N.Y. (woodcut by Frances O'Brien Garfield and Ernest Hamlin Baker). National Archives and Records Administration, RG 44, 44-PA-168 (NAID 513614).
Text on the object
Your Ears & Eyes Can Save Lives VOLUNTEER! FOR CIVILIAN DEFENSE [signature:] Francerne [credit line:] Wood Cut by Frances O'Brien Garfield and Ernest Hamlin Baker, Designed for Putnam County War Council, Carmel, N. Y.
