"The Greatest Mother In The World" Red Cross WWI Home Front Poster by A. E. Foringer (1918)

Color lithogaph poster for the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call of 1918. The Greatest Mother in the World” was one of many posters issued during World War I to encourage support of the war. Before the war, the Red Cross was a small and insignificant organization based in the U.S.. During the war, they saved money and provided help to the warring nations in Europe. Once the U.S. entered the war, the Red Cross was inundated with volunteers and funding from the government. WWI made the Red Cross into a global organization that was capable of helping people around the world. This poster shows a young woman in a Red Cross uniform. The woman has soft features and her eyes look upward as if praying as she holds a wounded soldier, on a stretcher, in her arms (reminiscent of the Pietà). This was to encourage the image the Red Cross wanted to present as being the greatest mother in the world. This popular poster was used many times throughout the war. This poster specifically also advertised the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call on Dec. 16-23, 1918. The armistice between the Allies and Germany was signed in November 1918. This armistice effectively ended the war; however, the Red Cross recognized that there would be a tremendous amount of work to do after the influenza pandemic had killed an estimated 21 million people. The decision to conduct a major membership drive for the Red Cross was made in November 1918.

During World War I, many women risked their lives to care for troops and took on active roles, as depicted in this poster seeking contributions for war relief efforts. Although women were still denied the right to vote, the government allowed them to serve in limited roles, ranging from dietitian to telephone operator. But the majority of women service members—more than 23,000 over the course of the war—were nurses. The government refused to grant American military nurses permanent commissioned rank and its accompanying benefits until after World War II.

Fun Fact: This poster came from the estate of John D. F. Black, a screenwriter/producer/director for the original Star Trek series. This poster hung in the production offices for the series.