I Want YOU for U.S. Army (James Montgomery Flagg, 1917)

Yes, Flagg reportedly used his own face as the model for Uncle Sam, adding age lines, a goatee, and a top hat to create the iconic figure. He said he did this partly to avoid the trouble of hiring a model and partly to save time.

The image first appeared as a cover illustration for the July 6, 1916 issue of Leslie's Weekly magazine, titled 'What Are You Doing for Preparedness?' It was later adapted as a U.S. Army recruitment poster for World War I in 1917.

Over four million copies of the poster were reportedly printed between 1917 and 1918 during World War I. It became one of the most reproduced images in American history and was reused in subsequent wartime recruitment efforts.

The pointing-finger composition is often compared to Alfred Leete's 1914 Lord Kitchener recruitment poster for Britain. Flagg's design followed a similar visual logic but rendered it with an American personification, Uncle Sam, rather than a specific political figure.