Trends in military influences on army recruitment: 1915-1953

The implementation of an all-volunteer force in 1974 sparked academic inter est in U,S. Army recruiting, During the past three decades Moskos's (1977) Institution/ Occupation (I/O) thesis has dominated this literature. Moskos held that the U.S. Army was becoming less of an institution and more of an occupation. He warned about the danger of offering monetary incentives for enlistment which, he believed, threatened to transform a patriotic duty int o a mere job and might also undermine motivation to fight during wartime, T his study examines recruiting theme trends through an analysis of recruitme nt posters from 1915 to 1953. (In a companion article, we extend the examin ation from 1954 to 1990.) Findings indicate that the I/O thesis was not bor ne out (Janowitz 1977) and that military changes, including the emergence o f an elite military culture, influenced recruitment themes.