The First Three!
Artist
Benjamin Kidder
Date1918
Dimensions27 1/2 x 20 1/2 in. (69.9 x 52.1 cm)
ClassificationsPoster
Credit LineGift of Peter A. Blatz
Object numberPH.60
DescriptionThis poster by American artist Benjamin Kidder features three portrait medallions of the first three Americans to die on the European battlefields during World War I: Merle Hay, Thomas Enright, and James Gresham. Their sacrifice is used to persuade American civilians to donate as much as possible to the Second War Fund of the Red Cross, a campaign that ran from May 20 to 27, 1918, as part of a campaign to raise at least $100,000,000 for its war work. In the event, the week raised a very solid $1 million towards this sum, largely through the influence of posters like this one. The war vastly expanded the number of volunteers and government funding for the Red Cross, which emerged from it as an important global organization.On View
Not on view
