Anti-Axis pin calling for the extermination of Axis rats
Extent and Medium
overall: | Diameter: 1.250 inches (3.175 cm)
Archival History
The propaganda button was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2015 by Forrest Robinson Jr.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Forrest James Robinson, Jr.
Scope and Content
Anti-Axis pin-back button distributed in the United States during World War II. The button compares the leaders of Germany, Italy, and Japan to rats and calls for their extermination. The name under the Japanese face, referred to as Togo, may refer to Shigenori Tōgō, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs at the beginning of the war. The name may also be a misspelling of Tojo, a reference to Hideki Tojo who was Prime Minister of Japan during the war and a more popular target of American propaganda. After the Japanese surprise attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and Germany’s declaration of war four days later, a wave of American patriotism and anti-German, Italian and Japanese sentiment swept through the country. Much of this was manifested through pieces of ephemera such as posters, buttons, pins, cards, toys and decals. Often such pieces would depict unflattering or caricatured images of the Axis leaders along with a call to action for the public to aid in their defeat. This sentiment continued in America until the end of the war.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
Metal, cream colored pin-back button with an image of the heads of Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, and Shigenori Tōgō in the center. Above are two lines of English text and below is a rat. The pin has a rounded edge and a flat surface. The back is silver colored with a recessed interior and has a horizontally mounted thin metal pin with a pointed end.
People
- Tōgō, Shigenori, 1882-1950.
- Hitler, Adolf, 1889-1945.
- Mussolini, Benito, 1883-1945.
- Tōjō, Hideki, 1884-1948.
Subjects
- World War, 1939-1945--United States--Public opinion.
- Patriotism--United States.
- Pin-back buttons.
- United States.
- World War, 1939-1945--United States--Propaganda.
Genre
- Identifying Artifacts
- Buttons (Information artifacts)
- Object