American Home Front During WWll: Propaganda

Posters like these could be found everywhere. 
They were made to show patriotism and 
help spread patriotism and hopefully persuade people 
to join war efforts. 
Picture found in Flickr Creative Commons.

During WWll, America used propaganda to increase support for the war and commitment to America's victory. A wide variety of media was used to reach out to the public. These areas of media included the following:

• Ads- Many companies supported advertising for the war. Many urged people to purchase war bonds. Companies such as Coca Cola and car companies used pictures of members of the military using their products.

• Posters - During the war, almost 200,000 designs were printed. Posters were placed at almost every public place, and even at the home. Compared to other countries, American propaganda is considered on the positive side.

• Comics & Cartoons - At the time, comics like Little Orphan Annie depicted war into their themes. Superheroes were also depicted fighting enemies of the war.

• Radio- A lot of war broadcasters incorporated war into their themes, which actually began to confuse a lot of people, which in turn led to the radio having to be very selective of what they could and could not say and talk about. Norman Corwin's This is War series was broadcast throughout America and other countries.

• Movies- General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army urged Frank Capra to create a documentary series that was used as orientation films for new recruits. It was supposed to show the threat of the Axis and how powerful the Allies are. Below are the 7 parts of this series:

• Prelude to War, the rise of Fascism
• The Nazi Strike, from Anschluss to the invasion of Poland;
• Divide and Conquer, the conquest of continental Europe;
• The Battle of Britain,
• The Battle of Russia,
• The Battle of China,
• War Comes to America, covering subsequent events.

These movies were released to be seen in movie theaters by the general public as requested by President Roosevelt.

• Animations- "World War II transformed the possibilities for animation. Prior to the war, animation was seen as a form of childish entertainment, but that perception changed after Pearl Harbor was attacked. On 8 December 1941, the U.S. Army immediately began working with Walt Disney. Army personnel were stationed at his studio and lived there for the duration of the war A military officer was actually based in Walt Disney’s office. The U.S. Army and Disney set about making various types of films for several different audiences. Most films meant for the public included some type of propaganda, while films for the troops included training and education about a given topic." - Buena Vista Home Entertainment in association with David A. Bossert and Kurtti Pellerin and Leonard Maltin, In an Interview with John Hench, 2004, DVD

• Newspapers & Magazines- There was actually a magazine war guide about how to include propaganda into magazines. Women's magazines, such as Ladies Home Journals were used the most to target housewives. There was actually a prohibition on releasing bad news in the newspapers so that the enemy could not in any way find it useful, however this was very difficult and this prohibition did not work very well.

Americans during World War II were urged to support the war effort in many ways. 

Propaganda today has not changed. Media and pop culture is always targeting specific groups for specific reasons and it can be very persuasive for many. This tool worked for the government during WWII just by the amount of war bonds sold alone, which were extensively promoted. The propaganda targeted positive and negative emotions.

“The principal battleground of the war is not the South Pacific. It is not the Middle East. It is not England, or Norway, or the Russian Steppes. It is American opinion.”
                                                      --Archibald MacLeish, Director of the Office of Facts and Figures, forerunner of the Office of War Administration

“The function of the war poster is to make coherent and acceptable a basically incoherent and irrational ordeal of killing, suffering, and destruction that violate every accepted principle of morality and decent living.”
                                               --O.W. Riegal, propaganda analyst for the Office of War Information

A war poster targeting rationing in the United States. As we can see it is strongly encouraged not to waste and to make do with what you had an fix whatever you could. Image found from Flickr Creative Commons.