“This big ship is advertising propaganda, pure and simple,” is how Blain Ewing, chairman of New York City Mayor John P. Mitchel’s Defence [sic] League in May 1917 described the “USS Recruit,” under construction in the city’s Union Square. A month after the United States entered World War I, the city was behind in providing its quota of men to the Navy. The Army had the draft to fill its rolls, but the Navy and Marine Corps had to rely on recruitment. The Recruit was to serve not only as a recruiting vehicle, but also as a training “ship” and a hands-on interface between the Navy and general public.
The Defence League believed it “pays to advertise” and proceeded to do so in New York fashion, if not style.
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