An image can express a wide array of different emotions fury, fear, anger, and grief all of which can be displayed and used to persuade and manipulate the person who is viewing the image. Pictures are highly effective in getting the message through to the people images can be used to invoke emotions in the humans that view them, striking fear into some and bringing laughter to others. Pictures can also carry ugly messages, lies, and fallacious statements such as the ones that were carried in the U.S. propaganda posters of WWII. I chose to a visual rhetoric on these particular posters for I was always fascinated with WWII and the memorabilia that spawned from it. It is true that each country in the state of war has used propaganda in various different eras throughout time; if not to recruit troops then to frighten the masses of their nation to gear them up in support of the war under the righteous cause of their nation. The U.S. are one of these countries, around WWII the U.S. began production of their erroneous propaganda war posters to obtain war bonds from citizen of America by frightening them with images such as Imperial Japanese Soldiers invading on U.S. soil.
This is an Anti-Japanese propaganda poster made between the years of 1941-1945, the poster was created to strike fear and provoke American citizens to pay war bonds. The image depicts a Japanese imperial soldier forcibly grabbing a white woman as she screams whilst the Imperial Soldier covers up her mouth, which in this case bestows fear within the public of Imperial Japanese Soldiers. Furthermore to implement people into funding for the war the illustrator of this poster wrote statements in bold writing saying: “Keep this horror from your home, invest 10% in war bonds”and then stating at the bottom “Back up -our battle skies!” gesturing off the fact that the Japanese bombed pearl harbor. Each one of these elements were used to get American citizens into funding for the war out of fear of Japanese Imperial Soldiers invading American soil. The characteristics upon the imperial soldier were exaggerated to install fear of the Japanese among on lookers who viewed this poster, he has an his teeth are sharpen as if they were made to ripple through flesh and he dawns a vicious look upon his face as if he was planning on doing harm to the woman in his possession. Altogether this image was made to stir up emotions by implying that Japanese Imperials would invade U.S. soil if financial bonds were not supplied. 
In 1928, according to Wikipedia, Nazi politician Kurt Gruber formed a Nazi youth group called “Deutsches Jungvolk” which means in German “German Youth” the Deutsches Jungvolk recruited boys from ages 10 to 14 when the boys reached age 14 they would then go on to join the Hitler Youth which ranged from ages 14-18 these groups thought Hitler’s ideology to the young men and boys and trained them to be militant so they could assume a position in Hitler’s Nazi regime. The image above is an idealistic propaganda spun off the facts previously mentioned; made within the era of WWII this image illustrates a young boy around the of 4 wearing a gestapo hat and a death’s head pin on his sweater . This particular image dawns very strong symbolism of the Nazi regime for the Gestapo hat signifies that he’s been inducted in the Nazis and the Death’s Head pin which indicates he’s ready to die in the act of war. This poster was made in mind to shock the parents of American children stating out in the bold sentences such as “Is he your child? you don’t want this” then telling the viewer to “Buy war bonds” then informing them as an urgent matter by putting the statement “before it’s too late”. Also the child is smiling whilst there’s a pile of ruble behind him signifying that Germany has won the war and conquered us on American soil. I chose this particular propaganda poster, because of the actual existence of the Hitler Youth and if the Germans were to have won WWII this poster could have been an actuality.
Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan played two major opposing roles in WWII against America. They were considered the aggressors of war for two of the countries waged war against America while the U.S. were in the midst of neutrality. America was reluctant to join WWII before hand, because as a nation they were just beginning to recover from the Great Depression and had just recently lost troops in WWI. On December, 11th, 1941, American Secretary of State, Cordell Hull was sent a copy of the declaration of war from Führer Adolf Hitler thus waging war with America. This declaration of war was declared 4 days after the Japanese declared war against America by bombing Pearl Harbor. The U.S. had broken the Japanese diplomatic code and knew an attack was imminent. A warning had been sent from Washington, but it arrived too late and thus the Japanese acted against the U.S. in a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor taking roughly 1,177 lives. In the poster you see above which was released during WWII, the artist paints a portrait of the two leaders of the war mongering nations that opposed America, Emperor Hirohito and Führer Adolf Hitler. They’re depicted sharing one body of gigantic proportions and destroying the Statue of Liberty whilst on the left of them a gigantic hand holding a wrench is gearing up to hit them. This poster holds strong patriotic values uniting the America’s industrial work force. Upon the wrench in bold writing it states “Production” referencing America’s industrial work force which at the time were producing vehicles and weapons for U.S. troops going to war against Nazi Germany and The Japanese Empire. The wrench is being geared back to be swung at the monstrous figure of Hitler and Hirohito standing on the right. Hitler and Hirohito are sharing the same body to signify that they’re cahoots with each other they’re is holding the Statue of Liberty which is bleeding to indicate to the U.S. public that they’re a threat to America’s freedom and liberty. The facial impression emitted on the two figure heads are fairly aggressive Hitler has red glowing eyes and both Hirohito and Hitler have sharp teeth with blood dripping off them to signify that they’re blood thirsty and evil. This portrait overall paints Hitler and Hirohito as a villainous dual and the one thing that can stop them is Americans working together aiding the U.S. industry to produce weapons to put the beasts that’re is Hirohito and Hitler to rest.
During WWII racial confrontation was vigorously directed towards Asians specifically the Japanese. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered for Japanese Americans to be incarcerated in interment camps. “The internment is considered to have resulted more from racism than from any security risk posed by Japanese Americans” stated by Dennis M. from the article “Americans, from Relocation to Redress”. The poster above was made in between 1941 to 1943 the poster shows an Imperial Japanese soldier with a bloody knife. This particular picture is blatantly racist the Imperial Soldier features are high exaggerated on a stereotypical level it. He has buck teeth with fangs making him look goofy and monstrous, very tightly closed eyes an over exaggeration of Asian’s slanted eyes, and a small mustache with glasses to make him look even more goofy and laugable. The font of the words is a play off Japanese Kanji for the paint marks leave streaks when the Japanese write out their language. Furthermore the Imperial Soldier dubbed “Tokio Kid” (Tokyo misspelled) speaking in broken English uttering a statement such as “Rush up early walk out door give Jap time to win war”. This poster was a racial exploit made to bestow fear in Americans of Japanese people and the Imperial Army.
The various propaganda posters put fourth by the U.S. were used overall to shock and motivate the American public, getting them to support America’s war effort by buying war bonds and aiding America’s industry in producing vehicles and weaponry for U.S. soldiers, airmen, and marines. In a a lot of posters I looked up I found racism, hypocrisy and manipulation to be the norm. I found it disgusting that America stooped so low as to not only defile the Japanese image and reputation but also to incarcerate fellow Japanese American citizens in interment camps. I would like for anybody who reads this essay to have gain knowledge upon what happen in WWII for it seems a lot of what happen is not thought in school such as the interment of Japanese citizens in the U.S. I’ve gained a lot of knowledge I didn’t have beforehand by looking up these images and their sources, but overall I found that war propaganda is just as one sided as the political bashing of an opposing politician they assault not only the nations image but the people of that nation which has no place in such a diverse society like America.
References:
Anti-Japanese Propaganda poster (Keep This Horror From Your Home) http://sites.psu.edu/rclroy/2014/09/11/rcl-blog-2-the-kairos-of-war/
Anti-Nazi Propaganda poster (Is He Your Child?) https://www.pinterest.com/pin/456904324669837679/
“STOP THIS MONSTER THAT STOPS AT NOTHING. PRODUCE TO THE LIMIT. THIS IS YOUR WAR., 1941 – 1945” Creator: Office for Emergency Management. Office of War Information. Domestic Operations Branch. Bureau of Special Services https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PropagandaNaziJapaneseMonster.gif
“Tokio-Kid” Propaganda poster http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2011/2/22/evacuation-or-exclusion/
Facts:
Paragraph 3: The Deutsches Jungvolk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Jungvolk
Paragraph 4: Axis Powers, Germany and Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_powers
Declaration of War from Hitler http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/germany-declares-war-on-the-united-states
Pearl Harbor bombing http://www.pearlharbor.org/history-of-pearl-harbor.asp
Paragraph 5: Interment Camps https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans
Tech Life 
