That Liberty Shall Not Perish...

That Liberty Shall Not Perish...

War bonds

This poster was created in 1918 by Joseph Pennell and was intended solely for an American audience during WWI. Created for the fourth Liberty Loans campaign of 1918, the poster depicts the New York City harbor under aerial and naval bombardment. The skies appear to be engulfed in flames, the Statue of Liberty is under attack and the city is slowly crumbling. The entire poster is a violent array of red and orange which created a shocking image that would jar passersby out of their stupor and inspire action. Although the events pictured in the image are purely fictitious, the image was created to resonate stongly with the patriotic American and essentially took the events of the London Bombings in WWI and transported them to an American setting. At the bottom, the poster reads "that liberty shall not perish from the earth, buy liberty bonds". Those words are a modified version of a line from Abraham Lincoln's powerful Gettysburg Address. The original line reads “. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth". The line was rewritten so that instead of government perishing, it is liberty who falls. By connecting the image of a burning NYC to one of the most famous speeches given by an American president, this poster is playing on American nationalism and the idealism that helped fuel war efforts in WWI.

Joseph Pennell

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

United States Treasury Department

1918

English

1992.004.5.93

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United States of America

Poster

103.9 x 76 cm