Fuck the Draft

Whole: The image fills the upper two-thirds of the design with text in white positioned below. All is set against a plain black background. Image: A photographic image of a young man holding his alight draft papers in front of his face, watching them burn. Text: FUCK THE DRAFT

Single sheet, printed on one side only.

Fuck the Draft poster, designed by student activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya in 1968 to protest against the drafting of young American men to fight in the Vietnam War. Kuromiya distributed the poster through mail order accompanied by an advert, for which he was arrested and charged for using the US postal service for inciting lewd and indecent materials. Despite this, he also distributed 2,000 copies of the poster at the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968.

[displayed alongside Art.IWM PST 2524] Production These posters were produced in the 1960s and 1970s to protest against the conscription of young American men into the Vietnam War. 'Fuck the Draft' was designed and distributed by student activist Kiyoshi Kuromiya, and 'I Want You for US Army' is a reworking of James Montgomery's nationalist First World War recruitment poster. Image Kuromiya's poster shows a man watching and smiling as a conscription paper burns in his hand. The use of an expletive in the text was intended to stir up young men, and challenge the government and those in support of the conflict. The 'I Want You for US Army' poster is a sinister parody. The recognisable image of Uncle Sam has been forcibly ripped away to reveal a deathly skeleton, and instead of his hand pointing, it is now beckoning. History During the Vietnam War, a third of American servicemen were selected by draft administered at a local level. Draft board members were often under extreme pressure from their communities to exempt potential draftees, meaning that the least powerful political sections of society were mistreated. Many draftees were drawn from poor and working class families, a large portion from rural towns and farming communities.