A 1940 U.S. Army printing of James Montgomery Flagg's Uncle Sam design, first used in 1917, with "I want you" above the figure and "for the U.S. Army, enlist now" below. The imprint credits the painting to Flagg and Leslie-Judge Co. NAID 513533.
What the sheet prints
The figure is Uncle Sam in a star-banded hat, frowning, his finger aimed at whoever stands in front of him. The FRAME record describes it as a 1940 printing of a design that first appeared in 1917. The 1917 sheet, as FRAME transcribes it, sent the reader to the "nearest recruiting station." This one ends with "enlist now."
I WANT YOU
for the U.S. ARMY
ENLIST NOW
[signature: James Montgomery Flagg]
[imprint: From Painting By James Montgomery Flagg © Leslie-Judge Co.]
[imprint: P-26-RPB-7-24-40-25M]
Who issued it
The issuer is the U.S. Army. The painting is credited to Flagg with a Leslie-Judge Co. copyright line, and the sheet carries a printing code, which this page quotes without decoding. The National Archives holds it in Record Group 44 as 44-PA-71. FRAME gives the purpose as recruiting and tags two devices: transfer, because the nation itself is drawn as the man asking, and identity fusion, because the address goes straight to "you."
How to read it
The 1917 sheet already has its own page. What the 1940 printing adds is the fact of reuse. The Army in 1940 did not commission a new image. It went back to the one that had worked a generation earlier, which says something about how durable a single well-made picture can be.
The appeal is personal and it is still an appeal. Uncle Sam wants you; he does not order you. The sheet cites no law and names no penalty. Whatever else was happening in the country that year, this object is a request made to a free man, who could walk past it. That distinction between asking and compelling is the one worth keeping in mind every time the finger comes back.
The 1917 original came out of the era of the Committee on Public Information. The 1938 Army Reserve poster shows a quieter prewar way of asking. The Wilson administration essay notes that Flagg's 1917 original was an Army recruiting sheet, not a product of the Committee on Public Information.
Sources
- FRAME object record, I want you for the U.S. Army, enlist now, 1940. U.S. Army; painting by James Montgomery Flagg, Leslie-Judge Co.
- U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 44, NAID 513533 (44-PA-71), retrieved by the archive 4 October 2026. Rights as recorded: public domain (U.S. government work).
