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Prepared from the source scan: surroundings removed and the sheet levelled where required. The source record remains available below.
The Posters That Went to War · The Home Front
Don't Be a Sucker! Keep Your Mouth Shut
Unknown (the NARA record names no artist) · Office of War Information, 1941–1945
Format
Archival pigment giclée on museum-grade matte art paper, color-managed to the source scan — the flat inks and stone grain intact. The 40×60 is the room-changer.
Size
$39.00
What it is
A careless-talk poster of the Second World War, dated between 1941 and 1945, held by the National Archives as 44-PA-146 in its World War II Posters series.
Why it matters
The careless-talk campaign ran on Office of War Information posters, and its most famous line, loose lips might sink ships, came from the War Advertising Council.
What to notice
The insult does the work: a sucker is the one who bites, and the headline casts the talker as the enemy's easy catch.
Silence, sold as street sense.
Provenance
- School
- The Second World War Poster (United States and the world)
- Designer
- Unknown (the NARA record names no artist)
- Campaign
- Careless Talk
- Format
- Political poster
- Poster published
- Office of War Information, 1941–1945
- Source
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, World War II Posters series (NAID 513593, local id 44-PA-146), NARA scan via DPLA and Wikimedia Commons · NARA NAID 513593 · 44-PA-146
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. government work (the WPA Federal Art Project, the wartime agencies), any year. Gated by the poster’s own publication year. Cleared by registry on 2026-11-02. National Archives catalogue re-read 2026-11-02 (NAID 513593, 44-PA-146): use restriction Unrestricted, access Unrestricted.
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