V-J Day

On this date in 1945, Japan surrendered to the Allied forces, ending World War II.

This poster encouraged increased wartime production by depicting a U.S. serviceman in an airplane pointing to his "hits." The message is that as long as U.S. workers support the effort, the military would succeed against the enemy.

Although it was printed in 1942, the image foreshadows the event that led to the Japanese surrender—the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

See this poster and others in our online exhibition, Posters American Style.

Pictured: John Falter, 1910–82, You knock 'em out–We'll knock 'em down More Production, 1942, offset lithograph, 40 x 28 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Barry and Melissa Vilkin.