US careless talk poster of a US paratrooper shot in harness
Extent and Medium
overall: Height: 27.875 inches (70.803 cm) | Width: 20.000 inches (50.8 cm)
Creator(s)
- United States Government Printing Office (Printer)
- Herbert M. Stoops (Artist)
- United States Office of War Information (Distributor)
- Adjutant-General's Office, United States, Army Service Forces (Issuer)
Biographical History
Herbert Morton Stoops was born in 1888 in Logan City, Utan. He was raised on a ranch in Idaho, a place that Stoops would continue to return to in his paintings. As a young child, Stoops was enthralled with the wide open, wild spaces of Idaho, a place where Native American tribes roamed the plains and mountainsides. Pursuing a higher education at Utah State College in 1905, Stoops had already gained experience doing freelance illustrations for the San Francisco Chronicle. In 1914 Stoops moved to Chicago where he began doing illustrations, page decorations and story headings for Blue Book, a literary pulp magazine with which he would be identified for the rest of his life. During World War II Stoops enlisted in the Army, but continued to send home wartime sketches. Many of these sketches were used on posters for the Office of War Information.
The United States Office of War Information (OWI) was created on June 13, 1942, to centralize and control the content and production of government information and propaganda about the war. It coordinated the release of war news for domestic use, and using posters along with radio broadcasts, worked to promote patriotism, warn about foreign spies, and recruit women into war work. The office also established an overseas branch, which launched a large-scale information and propaganda campaign abroad. The government appealed to the public through popular culture and more than a quarter of a billion dollars' worth of advertising was donated during the first three years of the National Defense Savings Program. Victory in Europe was declared on May 8, 1945, and in Japan on September 2, 1945. The OWI ceased operation in September.
Archival History
The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 1988 by David and Zelda Silberman.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of David and Zelda Silberman
Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
Scope and Content
US careless talk poster featuring an American GI in combat dress, hanging lifeless from a parachute, to remind people that their careless talk on the home front could cause death on the battlefield. Issued after the Allied offensive was launched in June 1944, the poster emphasizes the even greater need for be careful and watch out for spies. The careless talk series of US propaganda posters was an Army Services project, distributed by the Office of War Information. The need to manage the war on the Home Front led to the establishment of the OWI in June 1942. This office controlled the design and distribution of war information to the American public and commissioned work from leading artists. The careless talk series originated in 1940 in Great Britain. It highlighted the many ways that careless talk could leak sensitive information that our enemies would use to kill soldiers, sink ships, and undermine the war effort.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
No restrictions on use
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Offset color lithographic poster with an image of a detailed, realistic painting with a close-up, full figure of a man in olive drab combat dress, hanging dying or lifeless, drifting left, from the shoulder straps of a parachute. His helmeted head and his rifle droop down and his boots skim the mottled green and red grass. There are red stains on his chest and arms, and blood drips down his hand. The paratrooper is surrounded by gray/blue sky filled with close and distant views of parachuting soldiers. In the far background is a hilltop with fires and billowing smoke clouds. The slogan appears across the top and the artist's name, HM Stoops, is printed within the image. On the back is printed postal information.
back, right, pencil : 29 / 3 / 87
People
- Stoops, Herbert Morton.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--Communications--Posters--Specimens.
- World War, 1939-1945--Posters--Specimens.
- World War, 1939-1945--Social aspects--Posters--Specimens.
- Espionage--United States--Prevention--Posters--Specimens.
- National security--United States--Posters--Specimens.
- United States--Social life and customs--1918-1945--Posters--Specimens.
- War posters, American--Specimens.
- Propaganda, American--Posters--Specimens.
- World War, 1939-1945--United States--Posters.
Genre
- Object
- Posters