It’s Public Service Recognition Week (PSRW) this week and GovLoop is teaming up with the Partnership for Public Service to promote PSRW by running a special series called “Meet the Government Mascot.” Each day we’ve been introducing you to a new mascot, then we’ll run a contest on May 6-8 where you can vote for your favorite.
Today the mascot train pulls into the station with the granddaddy of them all: Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam is about as American as it gets, hot dogs, fireworks and the Fourth of July are about the only things close to his league. To take it a step further wikipedia defines Uncle Sam as the personification of America.
Uncle Sam started back in the war of 1812. The name came from a government contractor that inspected provisions for the Army, his name was Samuel Wilson but the troops all called him Uncle Sam. Through out the years Uncle Sam has always been there to get America whatever it needed at the time. He pretty much done it all from campaigns to buy bonds to getting people to enlist in the army. Uncle Sam is truly a jack of all trades.
The fact that Uncle Sam is so well known and been around so long there are several different adaptations of him. Instead of rattling off a bunch of Uncle Sam facts (kind of did that already above) hear are so different ways Uncle Sam has been portrayed over the years. 
Uncle Sam plays America the Beautiful
Just too good not to show
And my personal favorite
MEET THE OTHER GOV MASCOTS:
Never been too fond of this particular rendition of Uncle Sam – more of a scowling uncle than a public servant.