Overview

Effective communication on a massive scale between the government and the people of the United States was essential between 1917 and 1919 to mobilize the American people in support of the First World War effort. The pictorial poster is a medium of visual communication that tells a story, usually with few or no words. This study examines the use of the pictorial poster as the primary medium of communicating the government's needs to the American people for the waging of war. The study is illustrated with 129 plates, consisting primarily of reproductions of World War I war posters. A review of the literature dealing with poster art, the temper of the times (1914-1919), American military heritage, and examination of original and photo reproductions of war posters provide the basis for analysis of the visual communication effort. Categories of need are defined as groupings of war posters with similar themes designed to reinforce, or change, public attitude or behavior to produce tangible products that answered governmental needs. This study found six primary categories of need: 1) awareness of the threat, 2) the call for resources, 3) societal support of the combatants and the allied effort, 4) humanitarian, 5) finish the job-on to victory, and 6) retrenchment. The categories of need, themes, messages, and symbols are summarized in a matrix at plate 129. The principles of pictorial poster design are identified, and applied to selected posters to evaluate the effectiveness of the visual message. Analysis resulted in the following conclusions: 1) the pictorial poster was successful in gaining general public support for the American First World War effort; 2) the principles of pictorial poster design are applicable to visual communication regardless of the media; and 3) the graphic art poster can fulfill an important and mission-related external role in today's Army. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

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