{"id":2762,"date":"2025-11-19T13:13:41","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T18:13:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/?post_type=project&p=2762"},"modified":"2025-11-19T13:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T18:40:13","slug":"columbia-calls","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/project\/columbia-calls\/","title":{"rendered":"Columbia Calls"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“Enlist Now for U.S Army”<\/p><\/div>\n

The World War I poster titled \u201cColumbia Calls\u201d was created in 1916 by Frances Adams Halsted and illustrated by V. Aderente. The poster was meant to encourage young men to join the U.S. Army during a time where America was still deciding whether or not to enter the war. The poster shows Columbia, a traditional symbol of America, dressed in white and holding both a sword and the U.S. flag. She stands on top of a globe with a strong and determined posture, as if she is inspiring pride and calling on the viewer to take action. Her pose and expression create a sense of confidence and purpose, which helped make enlistment feel like a patriotic duty.<\/p>\n

During this time, the Great War was going on from 1914 to 1918. It was the most destructive conflict the world had ever seen up to that point. As explained in the textbook America: A Narrative History<\/em>, the war \u201cinvolved more nations and caused greater destruction than any previous conflict: 20 million military and civilian deaths, and 21 million more wounded.\u201d\u00b9 It also \u201ctoppled monarchs, destroyed empires, and created new nations.\u201d\u00b2 Because of all this global chaos, many Americans began to feel that the war would eventually affect them and started thinking about what the United States should do.<\/p>\n

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U.S Army<\/p><\/div>\n

In April 1917, the United States officially entered the war. President Woodrow Wilson told Congress that it was time for America to act \u201cfor rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy.\u201d\u00b3 The message behind Wilson\u2019s words appears clearly in \u201cColumbia Calls.\u201d<\/em> Columbia represents the call to defend democracy and protect the nation\u2019s freedom both at home and overseas. At the same time, not all Americans supported entering the war. Kazin notes that \u201copponents of militarism could be found in nearly every corner of the social and economic landscape.\u201d\u2074 Because of this, posters like \u201cColumbia Calls\u201d<\/em> were created to persuade people who were unsure or against the war by appealing to their emotions and patriotism. The bold colors like red, white, and blue stands out to the viewers\u2019 eyes. Columbia\u2019s confident expression and the flowing American flag behind her were meant to make joining the Army feel honorable and meaningful.<\/p>\n

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Great War<\/p><\/div>\n

When the United States joined the war, the military was not prepared for a conflict of this dimension. As the textbook America: A Narrative History<\/em> states, \u201cThe U.S. Army remained small, untested, and poorly armed… the Wilson administration needed to recruit, equip, and train millions of soldiers and transport them across an ocean infested with German submarines.\u201d\u2075 The country needed a massive expansion of its soldiers, which meant convincing millions of men to enlist quickly. According to Lofgren, \u201cAmerica\u2019s entry into World War I demanded the rapid expansion of the United States Army from just over 100,000 men in 1916 to almost four million in 1918.\u201d\u2076 Posters like \u201cColumbia Calls\u201d<\/em> were a major part of that effort.<\/p>\n

The poster shows how powerful images and simple messages can influence people. It represents a turning point when America began to see itself as a defender of democracy and freedom. Through its patriotic colors, its inspiring message, and its strong central figure, the poster helped bring Americans together during one of the most destructive wars in history.<\/p>\n

Footnote:<\/p>\n

1. David Shi, Joanne Freeman, and others, America: A Narrative History<\/em>, 13th ed. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2025), 978.<\/p>\n

2. Ibid, 978.<\/p>\n

3. Michael Kazin, \u201cAmerica and the Great War,\u201d Raritan<\/em> 34, no. 1 (2014): 85, https:\/\/research.ebsco.com\/linkprocessor\/plink?id=ff1d8651-ac60-3c31-a902-cabc9fbf23ed.<\/a><\/p>\n

4. Ibid, 77.<\/p>\n

5. David Shi, Joanne Freeman, and others, America: A Narrative History<\/em>, 13th ed. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2025), 989.<\/p>\n

6. Stephen J. Lofgren, \u201cUnready for War: The Army and World War I,\u201d Army History<\/em>, no. 22 (1992): 11, http:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/26302891<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The World War I poster titled \u201cColumbia Calls\u201d was created in 1916 by Frances Adams Halsted and illustrated by V. Aderente. The poster was meant to encourage young men to join the U.S. Army during a time where America was still deciding whether or not to enter the war. The poster shows Columbia, a traditional […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5858,"featured_media":2826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"project_category":[8],"project_tag":[140,139,720,279,721,719,136,718,86,73,81],"class_list":["post-2762","project","type-project","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","project_category-1900-1920","project_tag-thegreatwar","project_tag-worldwar1","project_tag-1914-1918","project_tag-279","project_tag-columbia","project_tag-enlistment","project_tag-the-great-war","project_tag-u-s-army","project_tag-war","project_tag-woodrowwilson","project_tag-world-war-i"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2762","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/project"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5858"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2762"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2844,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project\/2762\/revisions\/2844"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_category?post=2762"},{"taxonomy":"project_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/americanhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project_tag?post=2762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}