"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 Re