The Minutemen of Today WWI Poster

“The Minutemen of Today” Military Training Camp Association poster, showing Revolutionary War and WWI soldiers standing side-by-side. The Minuteman – long a symbol of readiness and citizen-soldiers – reemerged as a powerful icon during the war. Recruitment posters commissioned by the Military Training Camp Association linked Revolutionary ideals of service to modern military preparedness.
Before America entered the war, the Plattsburg Movement established privately funded summer training camps where college-educated men prepared for potential service. Plattsburg camps around the country hosted about 40,000 individuals, largely from socially elite classes. While praised for promoting readiness, the camps were also criticized for undermining the nation’s policy of absolute neutrality and for excluding working class trainees.
The emphasis on preparedness endured. Lessons learned during the war contributed to the Defense Act of 1920, which authorized annual military training programs each summer between 1921 and 1940.