Overview
- DHS shared Norman Rockwell images this year in recruitment-style posts, including one using “Salute the Flag” captioned “Protect our American way of life.”
- Another DHS post adapted Rockwell’s 1946 Statue of Liberty painting with text urging viewers to “PROTECT YOUR HOMELAND” and “DEFEND YOUR CULTURE.”
- Daisy Rockwell told The Bulwark the usage implies support for a segregationist vision that contradicts the artist’s stated opposition to prejudice.
- The Rockwell family wrote a November op-ed condemning the unauthorized use and asserting that the painter championed compassion, inclusiveness, and equality.
- Mediaite notes a wider pattern of aggressive, meme-driven federal messaging this year, including IP complaints against DoD over a children’s-book character and a cease-and-desist sent to DHS by the Chicago Sun-Times.