The Liberty Shall Not Perish from the Earth by Joseph Pennell published in 1918 is an American propaganda poster. Propaganda has a wide range of definitions, but it can be boiled down to a piece of media that is meant to persuade the audience to a certain action or idea. Propaganda is used in many ways including posters like this source, movies, advertisements, literature, etc. This piece is specifically a poster promoting war bonds during World War 1, war bonds were very important at the time this piece was created and published “A war bond is a debt security issued by a government to finance military operations during times of war or conflict”((War Bonds. (2022). Retrieved 14 November 2022, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/warbonds.asp)). The government used. The loans from the public to purchase and build more weapons and equipment for soldiers during World War 1. World War 1 was a global conflict that lasted between 1914 and 1918 it is considered the deadliest war in the history of the world. The governments involved in the first World War committed heavily to propaganda, churning out posters and films supporting their own troops and demonizing the opposing sides. America was one of these governments, they produced a lot of propaganda which attacked the German sides and supported their allies, the UK and France, but most importantly they were selling the idea of going to war. Many Americans thought it unnecessary to engage in this conflict because it had nothing to do with America eventually the military made their debut in the war in the Battle of Cantigy in 1918 after declaring war against Germany in 1917. After the United States was engaged in the war effort, they started promoting war bonds through propaganda posters like this piece.
As stated, propaganda was prevalent during World War 1 so much so that studies were created to make it more effective and were commissioned by the government. As Paddock said “Employing different approaches, pragmatic propagandists, as well as opportunistic and even (frustrated) idealistic ones, used all the means to hand; moreover, assisted by their respective diplomatic services, journalists, politicians, intellectuals and professional publicists also participated in this story”((Paddock, Troy. World War I and propaganda. Brill, 2014.)). The government used all these different techniques to sway the public opinion, try to make their view the popular view and be able to justify all they were doing abroad. Propaganda has stayed very similar to the techniques used back in the 1910’s even as recently as the early 2000’s during the Bush administration “US government’s various strategic communication capabilities were organized, trained, and funded to communicate the government’s foreign policies to America and the world, not to market them.”((Herbert, Roger G. “In Search of the Virtuous Propagandist: The Ethics of Selling War.” Journal of Military Ethics 20, no. 2 (August 2021): 93–112. doi:10.1080/15027570.2021.1983116.))
The goal of a lot of the war bond posters during this time was appeal to the United States citizen’s sense of patriotism by showing the results of not supporting the military. This piece specifically shows a decapitated Statue of Liberty and the surrounding area engulfed in flames with war planes flying overhead. The poster emphasizes the threat of the Germans crossing the Atlantic if United States can’t stop them abroad, which strikes fear and concern to the audience. There is significance to the use of the Statue of Liberty as well, Pennell strategically used the statue instead of another American landmark because of what it means to the citizens of the United States. The Statue of Liberty symbolizes freedom and if Americans care about anything collectively it is. the idea of freedom. Citizens and immigrants alike see the Statue of Liberty as proof that their rights will not be infringed upon and the sight of it destroyed means that they have lost that freedom. This poster ignites a strong defense of one’s own country and freedoms because it connects with the U.S population as an individual not as a group or collective.