- During World War two, the Allied powers
included Britain, France, the Soviet Union,
China, and the United States.
In contrast to the Nazi messages of
intimidation, fear, antisemitism, and racial purity,
Britain and the United States utilized propaganda
to mobilize national spirit, appeal to
patriotic duty, and encourage hard work.
In the same way that the message of the Axis powers
evolved from a ruthless set of Nazi values
the Allied messages were reflected from a
national set of ethics that valued
freedom, liberty, and a democratic society.
In January 1941, President Roosevelt articulated
his vision for a post-war world
founded on four basic human freedoms:
freedom of speech, freedom of religion,
freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Normal Rockwell used these ideas as a basis of
World War two's best example of
Allied propaganda, the four freedoms.
Initially, Rockwell had no idea how to
tackle such large and broad ideas.
Then he decided to tell the story from the
point of view from his own hometown.
While these posters may seem traditional and representative,
they incorporate many of the modernist concepts.
Specific symbols are included to strengthen the message.
Perspective is skewed to create room for the elements
and there are no parts of the poster
that do not contribute to the message.
In Freedom of Speech, the blue collar worker speaks
at a town meeting with the same rights
as the white collar executive next to him.
Freedom from Fear depicts the father holding a newspaper
with wartime headlines while his
wife tucks the children in bed.
The warm light of home is represented
with a small vertical band on the far right.
Freedom from Want gives us the bounty of
Thaksgiving, not of food but of family.
The man in the front looking directly at you,
the viewer, as part of the family.
The shape of the couple serving echoes
the shape of the Turkey and the food on the table
represents the goodness of American agriculture.
Other designers and illustrators focused on
the value of work such as J. Howard Miller's
Rosie the Riveter which served as a morale
booster for the war effort in factories.
Rosie's red, white, and blue attire
reinforces the patriotic communication.
Jean Carlu, originally from France,
brought modernist and European avant garde to his
American work with simplified shapes and iconic imagery.
His poster for America's Answer Production
used less literal illustrations,
taking a graphic approach to
convey the message with symbols.
The letter O does double service as a nut
turned by a highly stylized wrench.
Joseph Binder's Army Air Corps poster is a
combination of simple geometry and patriotic colors
which highlight the energy of flight.
The tiny airplanes pointing towards the American star
is the key element depicting enormous height and distance.
One of my favorite posters from any period is
Charles Coiner's poster Give It Your Best.
It is a direct and simple depiction of the
American flag with a declarative command.
The command and simple message are similar
to the World War one poster I Want You.
Optimism, teamwork, and challenge are
exemplified in every allied message.
The war department worked across media to
convey these messages from radio to movies.
Joe Rosenthal's famous photograph of marines
and a naval corpsman raising the flag on Iwo Jima
was quickly reused as a poster
encouraging all the forces to work in unison.
The war effort in the United States provided a
need for mass communication and manipulation of message.
These skills combined with the immigration of
European designers in the 1930s created some
of the most successful and copied posters in history.
Going forward after the war these tools would
be used again as a post-war economy boomed.