The posters designed during World War II were commissioned by the different branches of the armed forces, recruiters, and other governmental authorities to raise cooperation and support for the war effort. They targeted people who were not working, which at this time were mostly the young and women. These posters were designed to excite pro-American feelings, tell people where they could go to help, and possibly to stimulate feelings of guilt for oneęs harmful actions or lack of support.
The World War II propaganda posters were designed to increase civilian and military patriotism and support; some of the effects resulting from the war and this style of propaganda changed American life by, altering womenęs roles in the work force, changing the traditional roles of the family members, and making people more aware of the injustices of racism and discrimination. Many men were leaving their civilian jobs in order to do military service. Women were needed to fill these abandoned job spaces, such as in factories and military bases, that were previously reserved for the men during peacetime.
The posters
glorified women in the job force while they still maintained a feminine
appearance. "Was it patriotism and propaganda that
made women find war jobs? Or was it money, independence, companionship, and
pride in learning new skills that motivated them?" Whatever the reason was, women's roles
in society changed during the war.
Although women were strongly encouraged to take up these new jobs, there were concerns about how this change would effect families and social values. Full employment during the war was incredibly liberating for women, but represented deep and provocative change in their traditional roles. War films like Since you went away and Mrs. Miniver showed faithful women doing volunteer work to support the war effort, keeping the fires burning, waiting for their men to return.
But shortly after peace time, films like Double Indemnity and Gilda implied that the war had allowed women to –get out of hand," and that the "liberated women" might be undermining traditional marriage and family. War also opened up jobs in the military services for Blacks that were not previously available to them before the war. Although they were still segregated in the military services and often given menial labor jobs, such as cooks, stewards, and clerks, many Blacks returned to a post-war America with raised expectations, fired up to bring about major changes. Many, whether Jewish or Christian, saw connections between Nazi ideas about white supremacy and racism at home. As one woman, Judith Cohen explains, "There was the feeling that these kind of slurs, insults, and jokes that people make about minorities had helped lead to Hitler°." (link to her analysis) These strong feelings after the war helped begin to breakdown segregation that resulted in the beginning of the Civil Rights movement (http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/WWII_Women/Rosie.html).
