Homes for Everybody?
Pro-immigration advertising and the limits of welcome
The First World War was a golden age of propaganda, if a morally questionable art form can have a golden age. The totality of the conflict convinced governments that they needed to mobilize their entire populations. Governments on both sides produced a flurry of posters that demonized their enemies, encouraged the purchase of war bonds, and made enlistment seem like every man’s patriotic duty.
Even if you weren’t a man of military age, or even a citizen, the government wanted you to do your part. If nothing else, you could conserve food for the war effort:
This poster is, as they say, a rich text. The Statue of Liberty holds the torch of freedom aloft under a red, white, and blue rainbow, welcoming Europeans in peasant garb to the golden shores of America. The U.S. Food Administration wanted to reach everyone, even immigrants who couldn’t speak English, so the poster was issued in Yiddish:
