By Strick Strickland

Posters are a great way to get an idea across and to get information out to the general public. The use of posters is not a new idea. In fact, the use of posters has been around for centuries for advertisement of new products.  They were also used in law enforcement as far back as the 1400's.

The use of Posters in war time became common place in the United States during the Civil War, on both sides of the Mason Dixon line.  The Posters asked for recruits, donations, warned citizens of what to do in case a battle took place in their area, and reported the news.

A new concept was also put in place to use on posters, Propaganda.  In order to scare local residents into action, posters were printed showing the enemy as the terrifying aggressor.  Propaganda was used two ways.  It was used in a positive manner, getting word out to motivate people, and in a negative manner to scare or advertise false information.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7th, 1941, the American Government was quick to print millions of copies of Uncle Sam. The posters were placed in small towns, big cities and all over the highways of this country to make sure that every eligible male would think about and hopefully join.  These posters were responsible for the biggest rush to local recruiters to join the military in the history of the United States.

Millions of posters were printed all over the world during World War II, the time frame in history that used posters the most during any war. The Government's part of the Allied and Axis nations were responsible for a great deal of these posters. However, individual companies also wanted to show their patriotism and had posters printed, advertising their products.

World War II was at the peak of using Posters during war time, with it being a war being fought all over the world, they were needed to help with war bonds and the great amount of personnel needed to win the war.  

In the 1950's with the Korean War and in the 1960's with the Vietnam War, the use of television replaced the need to produce posters.  There were a handful of posters printed up by the American Government during the Korean War, but the start of the television era with more people being able to purchase the televisions to place in their homes, the news and special reports helped get the word out on a daily basis. 

During the Vietnam War, the use of posters was mostly used by those that protested the war.  Although they were mostly hand drawn and seen only at the protest.  This was also the last war that the American Government printed war posters.

The following pages are a handful of posters showing the artistic capabilities and cleaver ways to inform the public of the needs of each war, why there were shortages, and reminding the public not to talk about troop movements and any other concerns of the time.

VFW Post 12024 and the Auxiliary also has a page for posters, with trying to recruit new members and asking for donations to help aid all the projects for the Veterans in the community.

Please enjoy these pages, and hopefully learn about some of our nation's history.