I Want You for U.S. Army
- Made
- 1917 (first drawn for a magazine cover, July 1916)
- Place
- New York
- Language
- English
- Kind of source
- poster
- Difficulty
- Accessible
- Intensity
- Low
James Montgomery Flagg first drew this Uncle Sam for the cover of Leslie's Weekly on July 6, 1916, under the title "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?" After the United States entered the war in April 1917, the picture became an Army recruiting poster. More than four million copies were printed in 1917 and 1918, and Flagg called it the most famous poster in the world.
Flagg said he used his own face, made older and given a white goatee, for Uncle Sam's. The pointing finger borrowed from a British recruiting image of 1914 showing Lord Kitchener.
Look at how little the poster says, and how it says it: one person, looking straight at you, and the word YOU in a different color. The blank space at the bottom was left for each town to add the address of its own recruiting office.
The words printed on the image, in ordinary sentence case. Point at or tap a phrase to see the words as printed behind it. Phrase links checked in a separate review.
I want you for U.S. Army.
Nearest recruiting station
James Montgomery Flagg
Copyright 1917 Leslie-Judge Co., N.Y.
Borrador: esta traducción todavía no se ha revisado por separado. Las palabras entre corchetes se añadieron para que se entienda mejor.
Te quiero a ti para el Ejército de EE. UU.
Centro de reclutamiento más cercano
James Montgomery Flagg
Copyright 1917 Leslie-Judge Co., Nueva York
I WANT YOU
FOR U.S. ARMY
I want you for U.S. Army.
Te quiero a ti para el Ejército de EE. UU.
NEAREST RECRUITING STATION
Nearest recruiting station
Centro de reclutamiento más cercano
JAMES MONTGOMERY FLAGG
James Montgomery Flagg
James Montgomery Flagg
COPYRIGHT 1917 LESLIE-JUDGE CO. N.Y.
Copyright 1917 Leslie-Judge Co., N.Y.
Copyright 1917 Leslie-Judge Co., Nueva York
Questions a reader might ask, with short answers and the sections they rest on. Not yet checked.
What happens
What does the poster want the viewer to do?
To join the United States Army by going to the nearest recruiting station.
Why is there no address under "Nearest recruiting station"?
The blank space was left so each town could add the address of its own recruiting office.
Read section 2
Thinking further
Why does the poster work with so few words?
One figure looks straight at the viewer and points, and the word YOU stands out in a different color. Each reader feels personally called.
Read section 1
Who and what this source names, in the original. Each name links to every source in the library that mentions it. Not yet checked.
Ideas
- war and service Calls on ordinary people to fight, enlist or give their money so their country can win a war. Sections 1, 2.
People
- James Montgomery Flagg American illustrator best known for this Uncle Sam recruiting poster. Sections 3.
Places
- New York City The largest city in the United States and the center of its publishing trade. Sections 4.
- United States The country that entered the First World War in April 1917. Sections 1.
Dates
The poster is in English. The text is shown as printed, in capitals, and in ordinary sentence case.
Nueva traducción al español sencillo. Claude (Anthropic) la redactó a partir del original, con nuestra versión en inglés como guía. Todavía no la ha revisado nadie por separado.
- Original
- Text as printed in the named edition or on the object, read from page images. Edition: Color lithograph, copyright 1917 by the Leslie-Judge Company, New York. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, POS - US .F63, no. 9.
- Simplified Spanish
- Drafted by Claude (Anthropic). Not yet checked by a separate review.
- Editor’s review
- Not yet.
- Specialist review
- Not yet. Readings a specialist should confirm are listed for later review.
- Rights
- Original: public domain. Edition: public domain.
Sources for the notes
- Library of Congress. "I Want You." Echoes of the Great War: American Experiences of World War I exhibition. https://www.loc.gov/exhibitions/world-war-i-american-experiences/about-this-exhibition/over-here/raising-an-army/i-want-you/
- Library of Congress. I want you for U.S. Army: nearest recruiting station / James Montgomery Flagg. https://www.loc.gov/item/96507165/
- Philbrook Museum of Art. "James Montgomery Flagg." https://philbrook.emuseum.com/people/1320/james-montgomery-flagg
- Maine Memory Network. "I Want You for U.S. Army" (item 34081). https://www.mainememory.net/record/34081
- University of Michigan Museum of Art. I Want You for U.S. Army, 1974/2.17. https://umma.umich.edu/objects/i-want-you-for-u-s-army-nearest-recruiting-station-1974-2-17