Weapons may be the instruments with which we deal death, though it takes more than guns
to win a war. Information and morale play crucial roles, and propaganda can be one of
the most effective ways to spread information, true or false, and boost or undermine morale.
If propaganda was a weapon itself, it would be one dangerous to the inexperienced wielder
and difficult to master. It can totally backfire, doing its creator more harm than good, though
it can also devastate an enemy, and its power is often underestimated or at least overshadowed
by other aspects of war. Propaganda was a major aspect of World War II, and while other
countries certainly produced some effective propaganda, American propagandists mastered
the art, with World War II general and US President Dwight D. Eisenhower summarising
it in just four words — "Public opinion wins wars."
As you might've guessed, we're discussing American World War II propaganda in this video,
an aspect of the Allied victory which deserves much more attention.
But what is propaganda?
It's basically an effort to spread information that influences public opinion, though, as
some may believe, that information does not necessarily have to be false, only manipulative.
Propaganda exists in many formats and can be as simple as a phrase or symbol, or as
complicated as a multimedia production like a film or a cartoon.
In the words of Joseph Goebbels, head of the Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and
Propaganda, "The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely,
so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never again escape from
it."
As propaganda does exist to manipulate the public, it's obviously a little harder to
swallow than supposedly unbiased information, and it's easy to see why a government might
hesitate to use it, as was the case of the American government in World War II. Basically,
they force-fed the public in the First World War, leaving the public both aware and sick
of it, and were therefore reluctant to feed them that same dish in the Second. Pressure
from the media and American businesses eventually wore them down, though they insisted they
would not produce propaganda so much as spread "fact." After seeing some American propaganda
for yourself, I think you'll agree the government stretched the definition of "fact."
The American Office of War Information (OWI) spearheaded the dissemination of propaganda,
utilising the services of the privately organised and run Writers' War Board, which was the
primary liaison between the OWI and propaganda writers. The American Office of Strategic
Services (OSS), which later became the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), also played a role
in disseminating propaganda, though mostly in disseminating "black propaganda" — propaganda
which misrepresents or hides its source — into enemy countries. Basically, it was propaganda
made to look as if it originated in those countries, and a great example is the OSS
producing radio transmissions which seemed to be broadcasting from inside Germany.
Before we divulge the various formats/types of media American propagandist made use of
and analyse some examples, it's worth summarising the aims of American propaganda.
Broadly, American propaganda aimed to influence American soldiers and civilians and America's
enemies. Propaganda targeting Americans focused on encouraging military service; encouraging
production and the filling of occupations vital to the war effort, such as the production
of materiel, and specifically the employment of women; encouraging the conservation of
products vital to the war effort, such as rubber and fuel; and encouraging the purchase
of war bonds. Victory and patriotism were potent themes, though some propaganda also
aimed to strengthen the ties between America and her allies. Propaganda also discouraged
the spreading of sensitive information or "careless talk" even on American soil, and
some efforts were directed towards controlling the spread of false optimism, which ran the
risk of leading the American public into a false sense of security. Some propaganda straight-up
encouraged the mockery of and hatred for the enemy, relying often on the exaggeration of
said enemy's features, often those of their leader, and the abuse of racial stereotypes.
As for propaganda targeting the enemy, it was designed to undermine their morale and
generally spread misinformation.
The formats/types of media utilised by American propagandists in World War II were broader
even than what we'll list here. While they produced more than 200,000 poster designs
— more than any other country — throughout the war, American propagandists also made
use of leaflets, magazines, comics, books, newspapers, radio, animations and cartoons,
films, speeches, policies, and even advertisements in concert with those of private brands. The
reason why they used so many posters is that posters stood out and could be put up almost
anywhere, such as in factories, railroad stations, post offices, store windows, restaurants,
apartment buildings, and even in private homes.
For our analyses, we're sticking to three of our favourite posters.
This poster is metal. It roars "heroism" at the top of its lungs and almost draws you
into the scene, which is certainly what the artist was going for. "Back 'em up" implies
that you, the viewer, can be just as heroic as these burly American soldiers, that you
can be a part of their squad simply by donating scrap metal to the war effort. The poster
is simple, but it gets your adrenaline pumping and calls you to action — "they've got the
guts"; do you? Seventy-odd years later, and the emotional response is still there.
While this poster once more aims to encourage the production of goods vital to the war effort,
it also brings that twin-headed demon about as close to home as it could symbolically
get. Just look at how the artist depicted the Nazi head, a voracious beast, and also
how the Japanese head sort of cowers behind the Nazi head, eyes closed to slits behind
its glasses, conniving — a great example of a racialized depiction. The dagger in the
metal hand with the steam lifting out the hilt represents the German war machine, and
you can see that the naked, human fist clenching a wrench is loading up to crack the demon
over its foremost head and send it reeling into the inferno it left in its wake. It's
terrifying. It's racist. It works. It makes the viewer want to fight for freedom, liberty,
and America.
This one is hilarious, and that's why it's one of our favourites. I don't think it's
a particularly effective piece of conservation propaganda. It's not as direct as other the
posters, though the message "every litre of fuel you waste is a litre of victory for Hitler"
is discernable. It has to be making a joke out of its use of hyperbole, and it really
doesn't leave any room for the viewer's excuses. It's America... or Hitler. As for an emotional
response, mine was solely to chuckle, though maybe the public needed a laugh at this point,
and the poster certainly stole my attention.
Saying that American propagandist's "mastered" the art of propaganda is, of course, a generalisation.
Though indeed, it was more effective than it wasn't, and it certainly played to both
the strengths of propaganda in general and the political, social, cultural, and economic
climate of America.
Effective propaganda had a strong message and could be perceived in only one way. It
condensed complicated policies and concepts into easy-to-swallow messages, though, more
than that, it elicited an emotional response and called the public to action. Generally,
American propaganda focused on positive messages such as victory, heroism, and patriotism rather
than presenting the true and bloody horrors of war, with few pieces of propaganda presenting
casualty statistics or gory battlefield scenes, and thus, coupled with "false optimism" propaganda,
the public's morale was kept at a more optimal level. America had the means to increase its
production to unprecedented heights and literally outproduce its enemies, and the propagandists
recognised this and played a huge role in bringing it to fruition, as is clear in at
least the first two posters we analyzed and the outcome of the war; i.e. the Allied victory
was attributed to in no small way by American industry, and American industry thrived because
of effective propaganda.
Ineffective propaganda, on the other hand, was difficult to interpret and misleading,
and I think this poster is the best example of that; the third piece we analyzed is a
decent example too. Imagine seeing this present poster hung up in your place of work. Aside
from the helmet, it isn't abundantly clear that the man "watching you" is a Nazi, and
it certainly pervades a sinister tone, as if it's not the enemy spying on you but the
American government. George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four vibes indeed.
We've really just scratched the surface on a deep and interesting topic, and we're eager
to dig deeper. For now, though, do you think the role American — or any other country's
— propaganda played in the Allied victory is underappreciated? What about Axis propaganda?
Also, if you wish to share some World War II propaganda with us and the community, feel
free to leave links in the comment or join us on Discord.