Artifact Friday: WW1 Naval Recruiting Poster

“Gee!! I wish I were a man, I’d join the Navy” - 1917 recruiting poster by Howard Chandler Christy

This week we will be looking at an iconic piece of recruiting history from World War I, a poster that brought not just patriotism but also challenged gender roles. The 1917 “Gee!! I wish I were a man, I’d join the Navy” is a classic and early representation of recruiting history for the U.S. Navy.

Howard Chandler Christy was the artist who created this poster, and at the bottom of the image features a bolder text that says “Be a man and do it.” “The Christy Girl” archetype in the poster was a way of getting young men to enlist in the U.S. Military. Having a young, rosy-cheeked girl to front the poster encourages and insinuates the affection of other young women once a man joined the effort. The whole of the poster insinuates that to join the U.S. Navy is the most masculine thing you can do and not joining it is emasculating those groups of men who did not join.

Bernice Smith, the model for the woman in the poster, was 20 years old when she came into a California recruiting office wanting to enlist and was outraged because women couldn’t join the effort. Howard Chandler Christy was at the same recruiting office and became enamored with her and asked her to model for this poster, using the similar phrase she uttered in the office on the illustration.

Bernice Smith was able to successfully enlist in the Army 10 days after going into the office, where she met Howard Christy, and was able to serve in not just World War I but also World War II. This illustration was the first time that sex appeal was used to try and recruit soldiers, and it tested gender roles at the time by putting a woman in a sailor uniform and out of their time period's regalia. This illustration remains an important visual of how recruitment strategies evolved and not just targeted men but women as their audience.

Come see this iconic piece of recruiting history today at our museum, located in building one.