I Summon You to the Comradeship

I Summon You to the Comradeship

Charitable Donations

The poster is of a single beige color, emblazoned with the text, "I summon you to the comradeship," and, "Answer the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call for Universal Membership." The words, taken from a quote in a speech given after a surprise appearance at a Red Cross parade during their "Second Fund Drive" in May, 1918, are spoken by president Woodrow Wilson, whose gray sketched profile looms in the background, staring without emotion at the viewer. Beneath him is his signature and the small, red logo of the Red Cross. The image of one's president looking at and speaking directly to them, asking them to donate to the Red Cross, is simple and without flair. The promise to join the "comradeship" is enticing and, indeed, the largest part of the text, but the persuasiveness of the poster seems to lie in Wilson's gaunt image, the idea being that the American viewer will feel compelled to obey their president. There is little symbolism or rhetorical strategy at work in the poster; it is a simple request from the president and a promise of enrollment in the "comradeship" and join the Red Cross.

Leo Mielziner

McFarlin Library, Department of Special Collections and University Archives, University of Tulsa. 2933 E. 6th St. Tulsa, Oklahoma 74104-3123

The U.S. Prtg.

Lith. Co., New York

1918

English

1992.004.5.25

United States of America

Poster

70 x 50.9 cm