Propaganda Used in the US to Generate Support for its Involvement in the First World War - Term Paper Example

Propaganda Used in the US to Generate Support for its Involvement in the First World War Introduction Prior to and during its relatively short involvement in the First World War, the US set up the Committee on Public Information (CPI) which was specifically designed to promote wartime propaganda among the US public and among foreign parties.1 There was nothing new and unusual about the US government gathering public support for foreign policy strategies. However what distinguished the CPI from general promotion of foreign policy strategies was the fact that the CPI was a government directed propaganda campaign, a practice that was entirely unparalleled in US history. Its primary purpose was to manipulate public opinion in favor of US involvement in the First World War.2 This paper will examine the US’s propaganda campaign for generating support for its involvement in the First World War, why this approach was necessary and its consequences. I. American Sentiments Toward the First World War On August 18, 1914 US President Woodrow Wilson urged that it was important for the US to remain neutral during the Great War.3 This sentiment seemed to echo much of the American public’s sentiments toward the War. There was a general inclination toward avoiding the war altogether.4 Up to the start of the Great War, America had largely maintained an isolationist stance in which it avoided direct participation in European conflicts.5 Another factor steering US public sentiment against joining the war effort was the emergence of a peace movement. According to Nurnberger approximately fifty new peace movements emerged between 1900 and 1914 and gained significant momentum during the first year of the World War I.6 In addition there were a large number of European immigrants in the US who intended to eventually return to Europe so that sentiments toward the Allies and the Axis were divided in the US.7 A number of factors would influence sentiments toward the Allies in the years from 1914 to 1917. One of these factors was the propaganda efforts of the Britain’s War Propaganda Bureau, also known as Wellington House which operated from 1914-1917.8 Under the supervision of the Foreign Office, Wellington House directed its propaganda toward the foreign parties, particularly the US with the specific intention of garnering sympathies for the Allies.9 This was achieved by courting the US media personnel so that news coverage presented news about the war in such as way that Americans were able to identify with the war “through British eyes”.10 In the United States, a preparedness program emerged in which increasing assistance was provided to the Allies. The National Security League was among the most influential and well funded of these movements supported by banks, financial institutions and capitalist elites such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Henry Frick and Simon Guggenheim.11 It became obvious that America’s business elites were supporting the preparedness movement and this was primarily a result of their respective financial interests in seeing both Britain and France win the war. As Ross states, by 1917, Allies had been tied to US$2.1 billion and loans in US banks.12 The elite support of the Allies and their vested interests in the Allies emerging victorious was not tantamount to a shift from isolationism to intervention. America remained largely divided on the war, although there was a growing sentiment in favor of the Allies winning the war. To this end President Wilson had to confront the possibility of taking a divided nation into the Great War. As a result, Washington took steps to form its propaganda program which was calculated to transform American sentiment so as to reflect upon the American public as: One white-hot mass instinct of fraternity, devotion, courage, and deathless determination.13 II. US Propaganda For Generating Support for its Involvement in World War I George Creel, politician and journalist was appointed to head the CPI basically described the primary purpose of Wilson’s propaganda machinery within the scope and range of the CPI. According to Creel: The War-will, the will-to-win, of a democracy depends upon the degree to which each one of all the people of that democracy can concentrate and consecrate body and soul and spirit in the supreme effort of service and sacrifice. What had to be driven home was that all business was the nation’s business, and every task a common task for a single purpose.14 The CPI was established by virtue of an executive order. In addition to Chairman Creel, the executive committee of the CPI consisted of Secretary of State Robert Lansing, Secretary of War Newton Baker and Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. Federal agencies and departments would also have a role to play in manipulating public opinion. For instance, the US Food Administration were involved in the propaganda campaigns and a number of state and local authorities were also voluntarily involved in the propaganda campaigns.15 One of the main methods employed in the propaganda campaign was the Speaking Division and the Division of the Four Minute Men which were amalgamated in 1918. The Speakers division was commandeered by launching popular speakers to address crowds at prearranged locations across the US. The Four Minute Men were also men of good standing in the community and would typically speak to large audiences in theatres, lodge halls and churches during intermission. The speakers under the Speaking Division and the Division of the Four Minute Men would typically address the War and the issues that concern or should at the very least concern Americans.16 The CPI also ran the Division of Pictorial Publicity which employed illustrators who produced war posters.17 More importantly perhaps, the CPI established the News Division which put together information and news related to the war itself. This information reached the public in the form of news releases or flyers. Two daily newspapers, the Official bulletin and the War News Digest were distributed. The CPI also created a Bureau of Cartoons to get its message for unity in the war effort across.18 The Division of Civic and Education Cooperation was also another method of using propaganda within the CPI. This division put together and distributed pamphlets known as the Red, White and Blue and the War Information Series. Approximately three hundred scholars were deployed to this division of the CPI and published literature which justified the US government’s perceptions of the Great War.19 The Civic and Educational Cooperation Division also published a bulletin which targeted school aged children and was designed to promote a spirit of patriotism. This bulletin was known as the National School Service and it was dispatched among public schools with the intention of making “every school pupil a messenger of Uncle Sam”.20 Other divisions within the CPI was the Division of Women’s War Work, the Department of Labor, the Division of Advertising, the Division of Films and the Division of Pictures. The Advertising Division secured the assistance of the advertising industry for the donation and utilization of magazine and newspaper space for government advertisement. The Division of Women’s War Work was designed to reach women, immigrants and laborers. The Department of Labor inundated America’s factories with pro-war messages.21 The Division of Films and the Division of Pictures were used to send the pro-war message via video rather than the written words.22 These video oriented divisions of the CPI provided exhibitions showcasing war pictures typically emphasizing captured German machinery via the CPI’s Bureau of War Exhibition and the Bureau of State Fair Exhibits. These Exhibits drew millions of visitors.23 President Wilson’s contribution to the propaganda campaign was described by Lasswell as directly related to his ability to speak directly to the people in a manner unparalleled by any other statesman. Lasswell goes on to state: Just how much was the sound fruit of sober reflection will be in debate until the World War is a feeble memory. From a propaganda point of view it was a matchless performance, for Wilson brewed the subtle poison, which industrious men rejected into the veins of a staggering people, until the smashing powers of the Allied armies knocked them into submission.24 Local and state actors were also involved in the propaganda effort. Wiegand provides some insight into the role of the American public library system, a government owned entity in the propaganda machinery. During the early 20th century the American public library was primarily administrated by white, middle class, Protestants who were trying to achieve national identity. For the library personnel, the pro-war propaganda provided them with a means by which they could prove their value to the community. In this regard, they were more than happy to display posters depicting pro-war sentiments and to provide pro-war reading material to their clientele.25 The American public libraries would also contribute to the propaganda machinery by serving as centers for the collection of drives for the war effort, provide space for war exhibitions and would also post government information and declarations relative to the war. The American public library was also involved in a campaign to reach children in such a way that could be characterized as indoctrination. For example, the Free Library of Philadelphia donated over 900 story hours in the second half of 1917 for the sole purpose of reading Allies stories to children.26 The American public library also coordinated its efforts with the Food Administration which used libraries to inform the public about methods for conserving food by gardening and preparation.27 Women were a significant target of the CPI particularly for their capacity to ease economic burdens in their role as domestic practitioners. As domestic partitions they could ease food rations by conserving food, gardening and by utilizing preparation methods that could preserve food longer. Moreover, women were a significant part of the peace movement, not wanting their sons and husbands to be dispatched to fight a war so far away from home. There was a residual anticipation that women could: Constitute a subservice element in the nation, detrimental to wartime unity and smooth functioning of selective service.28 The CPI had the close cooperation of the editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, a magazine which is particularly appealing to women. This magazine would typically write editorials which spoke favorably of Wilson and the war. 29 America’s film industry, in its infancy during the early twentieth century was also eager to contribute to the pro-war propaganda machinery of the CPI. By cooperating with the pro-war effort the film industry could widen its popularity and garner respect. It was also thought that cooperating with the government could also circumvent the possibility of film censorship and exposure to onerous films taxes. Moreover, anti-German films were box-office hits and ended up being the main type of film during the Great War era. The film industry would cooperate with the Four Minute Speakers to a great extent and would show a number of promotional films put together by the CPI, one staple at movie houses was the Official War Review.30 Ultimately, the CPI’s propaganda campaign was a tenacious attempt on the part of the US government to manipulate public opinion about its involvement in the war. Pinkelton explains that the CPI manipulated public opinion under the government’s mandate by using the: Basic principles of effective communication including unity of voice, message simplicity, and source credibility.31 The CPI’s propaganda campaigns were designed to persuade Americans to see themselves as “stakeholders in their government” and to foster a communal feeling.32 Conclusion The CPI used every form of communication possible, the written word, the visual and the audio to reach Americans everywhere. This aggressive campaign was designed to shift sentiments away from anti-war attitudes and to cultivate a feeling of patriotism. Obviously, the American government did not want to have to deal with civil unrest at home while involved in the First World War so far away from home. The country’s ability to move forward would have been compromised by taking a course of action that could destroy the fabric of American heritage, which is characterized by unity and brotherhood. The propaganda incentive itself was a reflection of the power of unity and brotherhood. Its success in shifting American opinion was primarily a result of the cooperation it gathered from private sectors such as the film and media industries. It is doubtful whether or not the government acting alone could have successfully changed US public perceptions and attitudes about the US joining the Great War. Bibliography Cornebise, A. War As Advertised: The Four Minute Men and America’s Crusade, 1917-1918. The American Philosophical Society, 1984. Creel, G. How We Advertised America: The First Telling of the Amazing Story of the Committee on Public Information that Carried the Gospel of Americanism to Every Corner of the Globe. Harper and Brothers Publishers, 1920. Karetsky, K. The Mustering of Support for World War I by the Ladies’ Home Journal. Edwin Mellen Press, 1997. Kennedy, D. Over Here: The First World War and American Society. Oxford University Press, 2004. Knightly, P. The First Casualty, From the Crimea to Vietnam: The War Correspondent as Hero, Porpagandist, and Myth Maker. Harcourt Brace Jovonvich, 1975. Lasswell, H. Propaganda Technique in the World War. Knopf, 1927. Nurnberger, R. “Bridling the Passions.” Wilson Quarterly Vol. 11, 1987: 96-107. Pinkleton, B.  "The Campaign of the Committee on Public Information: Its Contributions to the History and Evolution of Public Relations."  Journal of Public Relations Research 6:4 199): 229-240. Roetter, C. The Art of Psychological Warfare 1914-1945. Stein Day, 1974. Ross, S. Propaganda for War: How the United States Was Conditioned to Fight the Great War. McFarland and Company, Inc., 1996. Taylor, P. British Propaganda in the 20th Century: Selling Democracy. Edinburgh University Press, 1999. Vaughn, S. Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information. University of Carolina Press, 1980. Ward, L. The Motion Picture Goes to War: The U.S. Government Film Effort During World War I. UMI Research Press, 1985. Wiegand, W. The American Public Library During World War I. Greenwood Press, 1989. Zieger, S. “She Didn’t Raise Her Boy to Be a Slacker: Motherhood, Conscription, and the Culture of The First World War.” Feminist Studies Vol. 22, 1996: 7-39. Read More