[Japanese-American Internment]. [Propaganda]

We Can...We Will...We Must! ..Franklin D. Roosevelt. Buy U.S. War Savings Bonds & Stamps Now [caption title]

Washington DC: 1943. Lithographic poster, printed in five colors, 11.25 x 20.5 inches. Minor edge wear, some toning to verso edges. Small typed note on verso, reading "GILA RIVER RELOCATION CENTER Rivers, Arizona War Bond Drive Ending Oct. 15, 1943." Very good. Item #2820

A unique example of a scarce World War II propaganda poster encouraging the American people to buy war bonds and stamps to support the conflict between the Allied and Axis powers. The unique aspect of this example lies in the typed note on the verso of the poster, which indicates it was sent to the Gila River Relocation Center in order to solicit purchases of war bonds and stamps from the concentration camp's Japanese American internees. This seems, at first, to be a startling exercise in hubris by the American government (and it is) until one remembers that President Roosevelt had gone a few steps further earlier in 1943, when he approved U.S. military service for Japanese Americans, almost all of whom were incarcerated in concentration camps. Of course, another irony is that many, many of the internees at Gila River and the other relocation centers were indeed proud American citizens who were unjustly detained by their own government; yet, with the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in March 1943, many internees also had their own sons fighting in the war to consider. So this twisted appeal to the patriotism of the internees likely worked to some degree.

Price: $850.00