“10,000 American soldiers were killed as of yesterday.”  Imagine hearing these types of headlines every morning, day, and night blaring over the radio, television, and reading them in the newspaper.  As a wife or girlfriend of a soldier sent overseas, these were the headlines that would make you wonder, is it my husband or boyfriend that is part of that total.  With this sentiment it would push you, not just push you, propel you to do anything and everything to help the men overseas.  So, what would a working woman who was already contributing to the war machine do?  Plant a victory garden, that’s what.

A victory garden was a garden planted by a family or community to help reduce pressure on the domestic food supply which had been weakened by reduced trade.  In addition, planting these gardens would make any wife or girlfriend feel good knowing that their individual contributions would be having a direct impact as their men overseas would be better feed and have greater food security.  Posters promoting war gardens were representative of the propaganda war that was also being waged across seas and domestically in the United States, war gardens along with other efforts helped to bring the country together and create a united front against tyranny.  It also represented the typical gender roles of the era and brought into question gender rights.  All of these elements made this poster a quintessential civic artifact worthy of examination. Thank you.

There are four pieces of rhetoric which are specifically capitalized upon in this image so that this piece of propaganda can garner the greatest support and be the most rhetorically effective.  Elements of ethos, pathos, logos, and Kairos are all present in this poster and are a large reason why this poster is so memorable.

Ethos the most evident rhetorical device in this poster.  This aspect of credibility is essential so that citizens would listen to the guidance and advice that is put forth in the propaganda.  There are multiple efforts by the creator to build credibility.  As a result of the poster being published and put out for distribution by the United States government, heightens the presence of ethos in this poster, even without the direct acknowledgment that this poster was created by and for the U.S.  The United States also creates and utilizes ethos by also appealing to the ethics of the United States citizens.  Citizens understood the power, destruction, loss of life, and peril that soldiers faced.  The reputability of the poster’s publisher and the appeal to ethics and morality are elements of why this poster was so successful.

Pathos is also heavily utilized by the creator(s) in an effort to gain widespread support and involvement in this victory gardens poster.  In this poster the appeal to emotion focuses on many emotions.  The most obvious emotion that is appealed to in this poster is admiration and “support.”  Individuals who saw this poster would be reminded that every action that they took at home could and likely would have a direct impact on the soldiers overseas.  Patriotism was also appealed to in this poster.  Patriotism was fervent and made citizens act and express themselves and their beliefs in support of the United States or their respective countries.  The poster promotes the notion that planting a victory garden was a demonstration of patriotism in that it supported the U.S., supported the soldiers, supported the farmers, and supported the economy.

In this poster both the images and language used work in conjunction to put forth a clear and direct message.  The poster’s message states, “War gardens for victory, grow vitamins at your kitchen door.”  In addition, the image of a working women also promotes logos as it to the point and makes sense for the

The final rhetorical appeal that is present in this poster and propaganda is Kairos.  This piece of propaganda capitalizes on war and patriotism to motivate the citizens to get behind the movement.  Without taking advantage of this opportune moment, the propaganda would not make sense and most likely would not garner the support it did.  Kairos is thereby and essential element to this propaganda’s success.

With every victory garden planted citizens knew that their efforts could keep more soldiers alive and hopefully change the dismal, “10,000 American soldiers were killed as of yesterday,” tune of the news.

The creator and artist behind the victory gardens poster effectively implements rhetoric in order to make it a successful piece of U.S. propaganda.  All four elements of rhetoric, ethos, pathos, logos, and even Kairos were clearly taken into consideration during its creation.  The inclusion of all of these elements make this poster a prime rhetoric creation and civic artifact that should and will be examined.  The publisher, the U.S. in this case, raged a propaganda war at the same time they were waging a real war during the late 1930s and early 1940s.  It was WWII where the power of propaganda was first seen in all its glory.  It was not just in the United States that this type of propaganda could be seen.  Across all continents propaganda was being produced at a flurrying rate to push the citizens to support the war effort and support their respective government.  The United States specifically though had to work extra hard to unite their citizens behind a war that the majority of people originally did not want to get involved in.  Therefore, the U.S.’s propaganda efforts and propaganda pieces created during this time were some of the finest, rhetorically filled, pieces of art ever created.  An analyzation of the victory gardens piece of propaganda and the rhetoric used will open the window into more than just the war effort itself but numerous other facets of the time period such as gender roles, the economy of the early to mid-20^th century, and occupation shifts.

Ethos is first and foremost the most evident rhetorical device present in this poster.  Ethos, being the rhetorical appeal to credibility and ethics is an essential element that is required for the poster’s success.  Without the aspect of credibility, no citizen would heed the guidance and advice that is put forth in this poster.  The credibility aspect though is not simply derived from one element present in this poster.  Instead, it is derived from multiple.  The poster being published and put out for distribution by the United States government heightens the presence of ethos in this poster, even without the direct acknowledgment that this poster was created by and for the U.S.  The United States government, during the time this poster was published, was at the height of its power.  The government was largely the strongest in the world in a political, economic, and militaristic standpoint.  Few countries rivaled the United States power and therefore the U.S.’s name on any piece of published work created instant credibility and ethos.  The United States also creates and utilizes ethos by appealing to the ethics of the United States citizens.  Citizens in the United States were used to hearing the atrocities of war as the country had already endured a world war, WWI.  They understood the power, destruction, loss of life, and peril that soldiers faced.  Nothing had changed with WWII.  There were still mass casualties, destruction, and atrocities.  Through this poster, the United States was pushing citizens to help the soldiers, many of whom were the husbands and boyfriends of women back on the home front.  This poster is directly appealing to every citizen, especially those who know soldiers, to reduce the pressure on the country’s food supply so that the soldiers could be better feed.   This is a direct appeal to every citizens morals and ethics in that the government wants the citizens to question their actions and if their actions, like planting or not planting a victory garden, benefits the war efforts and soldiers.  The reputability of the poster’s publisher and the appeal to ethics and morality are elements of why this poster was so successful.

Ethos was not the only rhetorical appeal that made this poster an extraordinary civic artifact.  Pathos, a rhetorical appeal to emotion, is also heavily utilized by the creator(s) in an effort to gain widespread support and involvement in this victory gardens poster.  It is difficult to create a successful poster, moreover propaganda without any appeal to emotion.  In this poster the appeal to emotion does not focus on just one emotion but a wide range.  This appeal to a wide range of emotions is another significant reason that this poster is so rhetorically successful.  The most evident emotion that is appealed to in this poster is admiration and “support.”  Individuals who saw this poster would be reminded that every action that they took at home could and likely would have a direct impact on the soldiers overseas.  Citizens realized that if they hypothetically bought less food at the store and instead grew it at home, it would allow for more food to be sent overseas for the soldiers.  Consequently, the soldiers would end up being better fed which would have been important to the wives, girlfriends, and family of the soldiers who had been sent overseas.  It was also be important to any patriotic American.  This leads to the second emotion that had been appealed to in this poster, an appeal to patriotism.  While patriotism is by definition not an emotion, during this time period it likely would have been considered one.  Patriotism was fervent and made citizens act and express themselves and their beliefs in support of the United States or their respective countries.  The poster promotes the notion that planting a victory garden was a demonstration of patriotism in that it supported the U.S., supported the soldiers, supported the farmers, and supported the economy.  While multiple other emotions are present in this poster, the two most obvious and pervasive ones are admiration, supportive, and patriotism.

The last common appeal that is present in this poster is an appeal to logic, better known as logos.  Logos as an appeal is the backbone of almost all posters.  Without logos, the central theme of many posters lacks to be clearly expressed and makes it difficult for the artist/designer to get through to the viewer.  It’s not just the words that are important for logos, it is also the images and all other elements, all the way down to the color that impact logos and can shift a propaganda poster from having a clear and direct message to a muddled message that can be easily misinterpreted.  In this poster both the images and language used work in conjunction to put forth a clear and direct message.  The poster’s message states, “War gardens for victory, grow vitamins at your kitchen door.”  This message clearly states what the United States government is promoting which is effective in that it is straight to the point.  In addition, the image of a working women also promotes logos as it to the point and makes sense for the time period.  It makes sense and is logical in both a gender sense and in a shifting workforce sense.  The women in the image can be seen wearing overalls, the traditional clothes of a working women.  Prior to this time period, women, though their presence in the workforce was steadily increasing, was still considered a minority part of it.  As a result, women were not well accepted in working positions.  During, WWII however, as the country was mobilizing for war and men were leaving their jobs to go overseas, hundreds of thousands of jobs were left unfulfilled.  Therefore, it gave women the opportunity to feel these positions and women in the workforce became more of a common place.  This was why the women were portrayed this way in the propaganda poster and it also helped to appeal to the majority of people who would be viewing this poster and participating in the planting of victory gardens.

The final rhetorical appeal that is present in this poster and propaganda is Kairos.  Kairos is the rhetorical appeal that capitalizes on timing and the moment.  This piece of propaganda capitalizes on war and patriotism to motivate the citizens to get behind the movement.  Without taking advantage of this opportune moment, the propaganda would not make sense and most likely would not garner the support it did.  Kairos is thereby and essential element to this propaganda’s success.

The victory gardens poster’s creators successfully implement all four elements of rhetoric and as a result the poster is extremely successful in obtaining a following.  Many other posters such as the famous “We Want You” posters similarly capitalized on U.S. patriotism and the elements of war to be rhetorically successful.  Such a utilization of rhetoric during WWII in the United States made the U.S.’s propaganda war extremely effective moving citizens from opposing the war to supporting it and backing the country.

The creator and artist behind the victory gardens poster effectively implements rhetoric in order to make it a successful piece of U.S. propaganda.  All four elements of rhetoric, ethos, pathos, logos, and even Kairos were clearly taken into consideration during its creation.  The inclusion of all of these elements make this poster a prime rhetoric creation and civic artifact that should and will be examined.  The publisher, the U.S. in this case, raged a propaganda war at the same time they were waging a real war during the late 1930s and early 1940s.  It was WWII where the power of propaganda was first seen in all its glory.  It was not just in the United States that this type of propaganda could be seen.  Across all continents propaganda was being produced at a flurrying rate to push the citizens to support the war effort and support their respective government.  The United States specifically though had to work extra hard to unite their citizens behind a war that the majority of people originally did not want to get involved in.  Therefore, the U.S.’s propaganda efforts and propaganda pieces created during this time were some of the finest, rhetorically filled, pieces of art ever created.  An analyzation of the victory gardens piece of propaganda and the rhetoric used will open the window into more than just the war effort itself but numerous other facets of the time period such as gender roles, the economy of the early to mid-20^th century, and occupation shifts.

Ronald Reagan was a master of wordplay and was an expert orator.  Such expertise can be seen in Reagan’s address to the nation after the Challenger shuttle burst into flames consequently killing the seven individuals onboard.  Most notably, a schoolteacher named, Christa McAuliffe, was killed in the inferno.  The number of citizens who were tuned in watching the launch and as a result the death led Reagan to address the situation and tragedy rather than give his State of the Union Address.

Ronald Reagan’s quick response to the crisis rather than glossing over it and simply giving the State of the Union address as planned was Reagan’s first effective move in combating the sadness and failure of the United States.

In the short yet powerful four-minute speech Reagan successfully addressed the five differing audiences.  These audiences were the collective mourners (the United States citizens), the families and friends of mourners, school children who watched the launch, the Soviet Union, and NASA.  These five groups and how they were addressed will be directly examined below in order to see how Reagan utilized the occasion and other rhetorical elements.

In addressing the collective mourners, Reagan calls the United States to move to a period of collective mourning.  In doing so, Reagan brings the nation together and also reestablishes the United States commitment to moving forward in all areas, in this case science and astrophysics.

In addressing the families and friends of the astronauts who lost their lives, Reagan effectively addresses them by stating that no one could understand the immense pain they must be feeling.  In addition, Reagan affirms the astronauts will to always search for me to understand the universe which adds a courageous aspect to those individuals lives who had been lost.

In addressing the schoolchildren who had witnessed the tragedy Reagan utilizes his voice to connect to the children telling them that in discovery, tragedy comes.  It is with this parental voice that Reagan in a sense implores the school children not let this event deter the children from continuing to push the bounds of what is known.

Reagan briefly takes a shot at the Soviet Union when claiming that secrecy and cover-ups are not a part of the American culture but initiates the idea that it is a part of the Soviet Union’s culture.  While this is a brief statement, it does address and continue the idea of American superiority and American loathing of the Soviet Union.

Reagan lastly addresses NASA, stating that the United States was still committed to space exploration regardless of the unfortunate mishaps.  In doing this Reagan reaffirms the U.S’s commitment to space, exploration, and broadening what was known.

The ability to bring all these different groups together and address each and every one while also joining them all together makes this speech a prime piece of rhetoric and oration.

When the COVID-19 Pandemic first came to the forefront of American life, the country instituted a slew of policies to protect the people from an invisible disease.  Many of these policies were at first questioned for their actual ability to slow the diseases spread down and the policies constitutionality.  As the science and research specifically dedicated to COVID-19 heightened as did citizens beliefs in the importance in following local, state, and federal mandates.

The most notorious of the mandates is the mask ordinances which have forced citizens to wear a mask when in stores, at times outdoors, in restaurants, in gyms, and pretty much everywhere.  There has been a great deal of objection to the mask policy as many see the masks as useless or ineffective in preventing a pandemic, but the large majority of United States citizens do follow the mandates as they are otherwise threatened with the law.  As a result of mask wearing becoming so widespread and the mask itself becoming a staple item to never leave the house without, mask wearing is now considered a civic activity.

Analyzing a mask wearing as a civic activity is relatively easy as one can simply look at the purpose of wearing a mask.  The purpose of wearing these masks is to slow the spread of COVID-19.  By wearing a mask citizens are protecting the sick, elderly, and others they come into contact with.  Each and every citizen that wears a mask is benefitting the larger population.  In essence the large-scale mask wearing is representative of an entire country dedicated to the greater good.  It’s truly eye-opening how a pandemic can create a united population, one that is eerily similar to the united front created in the U.S. during wartime.

Then again though, is the entire population wearing masks not a civic artifact for its ability to bring the country together but rather the strength of the U.S. government to impose policies that citizens will blindly follow.

Introduction:

• Introduce the civic artifact and poster to be looked at.
• Describe the poster specifically looking at the rhetoric used.
• Then describe the posters imagery (specifically focus on the women as the central figure and the way she is portrayed).
• Background content to be used:
  • The idea of a Victory Gardens had been around since WWI.
  • The Gardens became popularized and more widespread during WWII.
  • A Victory Garden was created by an individual household or communities to grow their own food.
  • The intent of these gardens was to reduce the reliance on the domestic food supply.
  • While the previous image was created in the United States, Victory Gardens were promoted by multiple other nations.
  • This was a prime piece of propaganda.

Body #1:

• All countries during WWII utilized and relied on propaganda to garner support for the war effort.
• The radio, newspaper, posters, and TV were all sources of continual war mongering.
• The Nazi’s specifically used propaganda to garner support for their party and ostracize the Jewish people.
• Specifically, the United used this poster as a tool to motivate citizens to economically assist the nation.
• The language used rhetorically propelled people to support the war effort.

Body #2:

• Why this poster is generationally defining:
• A coming together and “everybody is in this together” attitude is why this poster is generationally defining.
• As a country, people came together, as a community people came together, and as a family people came together.
• This poster was the perfect representation of the selflessness of citizens during this time period.
• The designer is using the opportune event of war to remind citizens and communities to grow their own fruits and vegetables, and in doing so assist the war effort.

Body #3:

• Gender, in this case female, of the person depicted who has/is creating a victory garden to assist the nation.
• Women stayed home to take care of children, the home, and assume wartime jobs.
• Women would be implored by this poster to take up a victory garden so that their husbands or boyfriends overseas could receive better food and be better taken care of.
• I will also examine the broader role of women during WWII in both the home and in work life.

Conclusion:

• Draw connections to other time period such as WWI.
• Conclude why this poster is generationally defining (with women and with the entire U.S.)

The, “War gardens for victory, grow vitamins at your kitchen door” poster correctly implements Kairos to reach the widest audience and have the greatest impact on the audience.  Kairos is when something is done, said, or utilized at the right moment.  This poster is no exception as the poster designer uses numerous, timely elements in its creation.  Take for example the words on the poster, “War gardens for victory, grow vitamins at your kitchen door.”  Had this poster been created at a different time period (i.e. a period of no war), the poster would not make sense.  However, as a result of this poster being created during the height of United States involvement in WWII, the poster makes sense to all U.S. citizens of the time.  Thereby, the designer is using the opportune event of war to remind citizens and communities to grow their own fruits and vegetables, and in doing so assist the war effort.  Another element of this poster demonstrates Kairos in effect.  This element is the gender, in this case female, of the person depicted who has/is creating a victory garden to assist the nation.  During WWII, women were not allowed to be involved in direct combat although they did assist behind lines.  As a result of most men being sent overseas to fight in combat, most women stayed home to take care of children, the home, and assume wartime jobs.  Therefore, women would be implored by this poster to take up a victory garden so that their husbands or boyfriends overseas could receive better food and be better taken care of.  The food women grew at home would be less food they would have to buy at grocery stores that taxed the food supply as large amounts of this food were being sent overseas to feed soldiers.  The use of specific terminology, time period, and imagery, demonstrates the poster designers heavy use of Kairos to improve the posters perception.