Are You 100% American? Prove It!

Jingoism meets patriotism during World War I.

This dramatic WWI propaganda poster was designed by Joseph Stern and printed by the Sackett & Wilhelms Corporation of New York around 1918. A patriotic image forcibly inquires about the national identity of the audience, encouraging the reader to prove their ‘American-ism’ by purchasing bonds from the Third Liberty Loan. Lazy smoke, drifting from the barrel of two naval cannons, forms the upper banner – a shade of gray that’s shared only by the ashen bald eagle spreading its wings. From the Museum of New Zealand,

“This First World War poster was created by the United States Treasury Department to urge the American public to buy war bonds. War bonds were debt securities issued by various governments to finance their military operations and other expenses during the First and Second World Wars.

The wider campaign for American Liberty bonds combined exhortations for purchase with appeals to patriotism and conscience, especially in those retail bonds specifically marketed to the public. Significantly, this poster interrogates the viewer, asking ‘Are You 100% American?’ To prove their patriotism, American civilians were urged to buy the Third Liberty Loan, which, on 5 April 1918, offered $3 billion in bonds at 4.5 percent.”

Sources: Dallas Museum of Art; Museum of New Zealand