About That Uncle Sam-- Part 2: Uncle Sam Poster Based On a British Poster

James Montgomery Flagg was a creator of cartoons, illustrations, and drawings of publications of all sorts.    He worked for advertisers, magazines, newspapers, book publishers and was commissioned by  Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper in  in 1916.  It was a weekly publication  that pioneered in the use of early photography (and illustrations especially during the Civil War) during its 70+ year run and he used himself as a model.

The headline of that week's issue was "What Are You Doing For Preparedness?" At this time, the U.S. was drawing closer to entering the war raging in Europe.   He decided to make a poster of the then-famous recruiting poster of the British Army depicting the famous  Field Marshal Lord Kitchener pointing his finger and looking directly at the viewer and  telling them they're wanted in the British Army.  But he was going to use the likeness of Uncle Sam instead.

Okay, then, so who was this Uncle Sam?

Well that harkens back to our war, the War of 1812.

--Brock-Perry