During the First World War, posters were the primary form of public communication; but by 1940 posters had been supplanted by radio, movies, and billboards. Why then did government and private industry turn to posters to rally the public in World War II?

First, people would encounter posters in places that other media couldn't reach--schools, factories, offices, store windows, and other places outside the scope of paid advertising. Second, posters had democratic appeal--they could be made by anyone; they could be seen by all. Both medium and message spoke of democracy, which made posters ideal for expressing American war aims: why we fight, what we fight for. For example, artist John C. Atherton's first-prize poster for Defense Bonds was painted on a 48-foot billboard at one of New York's busiest street corners, 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue, July 1941.

To tap the creative energies of American artists, the Museum of Modern Art organized a National Defense Poster Competition in 1941. The contest was sponsored by the museum and two of the government's largest users of posters, the Army Air Corps and the Treasury Department. First prize in the Defense Bond category was won by John C. Atherton, a prominent commercial artist. Atherton's winning design--showing the factory as the front line of decisive action -- was echoed in other posters as America entered the war after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.

Addressing every citizen as a combatant in the war of production, wartime posters united the power of art with the power of advertising to sell the idea that the factory and the home were also arenas of war. Poster campaigns aimed not only to increase productivity in factories, but also to enlarge people's views of their responsibilities in a time of total war.

To control the content and imagery of war messages, the government created the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) in June 1942. Among its wide-ranging responsibilities, OWI sought to review and approve the design and content of government posters. Eventually, two contending groups within OWI clashed over poster design. Those who saw posters as "war art" favored stylized images and symbolism, while recruits from the world of advertising wanted posters to be more like ads. When admen gained the upper hand at OWI, the look of government posters changed decidedly.