Use of Propaganda On American Citizens During World War I Essay

During World War II propaganda was ubiquitous. It consisted of a wide range of carriers including leaflets, radio, television, and most importantly posters. Posters were used based on their appeal: they were colorful, creative, concise, and mentally stimulating. Posters often portrayed the artist's views on the war. They demonstrated the artist concern for the war, their hopes for the war, and reflected the way enemies were envisioned. Posters also show a nations political status: they reflect a nations allies and enemies, how the nation saw itself, and its greatest hopes and fears of the war.

During World War II, propaganda was used for a number of reasons, it not only showed how anyond could be of use to the war efforts, but it also showed that every person could contribute as well. These posters empowered everyone to stand behind their nation's Army, and to continue contributing to the war efforts. The posters showed that everyone is needed, that anyone could make a difference, and some even emphasized certain values to those who are already helping with the war effort.

Propaganda was used in 3 main types of ways in the First World War. It

War propaganda is a tactic often used throughout history in order to increase nationalism and involve citizens in war efforts. World War Two was no different when it came to the use of this propaganda. The United States specifically used all sorts of propaganda against the Axis powers. In particular, the United States targeted Japan with loads of racially charged wartime propaganda, and Japan did the same thing back at the United States. Two countries with vastly different customs and looks were quickly able to make propaganda that made the other side look like awful people to their own citizens. John Dower outlines this sort of propaganda in his novel War Without Mercy. In this novel, Dower goes over how propaganda is made effectively and

"Propaganda was a huge tool used to sway citizens toward a particular political view. "The U.S.A. entered World War One in April 1917, but lost no time in producing many more propaganda posters than any other single nation. These encompassed recruitment to the various armed services, plus - frequently - the raising of war finance via

There was propaganda produced to deliver these exact messages during the war in every country, however some good examples of this can be seen in the Propaganda Lecture Slides that were presented to us. One poster depicted a German soldier nonchalantly stabbing a baby with his bayonet. While another displayed God descending from heaven to care for what appears to be a wounded soldier. There were also posters used to enforce peer pressure, which can be seen in a poster with some children asking their father, “Daddy what did YOU do during the war?” These posters were effective, and unexpectedly powerful due to the unprecedented use of industrialized media (Lecture). Concludingly, recent media innovations allowed for mass production of the written word and higher literacy rates led to an even greater impact for propaganda. This could also be seen with prominent writers such as Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, and others who were a part of the British War Propaganda Bureau, otherwise known as Wellington House (Lecture).

American propaganda during WWI was used to spread ideas and information for the purpose of helping the American cause, specifically through, songs, posters, pamphlets and leaflets. America joined the Allies forces in 1917 in Europe to fight against the Central Powers. The American government needed something to spark the peoples' interest in the war. The most effective tool the government found and used was propaganda. The American government used propaganda to reach out to the people. The government wanted to reach people of all ages. Similarly, Germany fought back with her own propaganda, by purposely dropping leaflets and pamphlets on the ground to try and convince American soldiers, especially blacks, to join their side. In my opinion

Using a vast array of media, propagandists instigated hatred for the enemy and support for America's allies, urged greater public effort for war production and victory gardens, persuaded people to save some of their material so that more material could be used for the war effort,

It must be emphasized that the ultimate object of propaganda in war is the destruction of enemy morale, and its corollary, the strengthening of friendly morale. “It consists of the dissemination of ideas, designed to react in different ways upon their various recipients. The enemy must be made to feel that his cause is hopeless from the start, has no chance of ultimate success, and is based upon delusive ideals.” It is usually impossible to convince the responsible organizations of the hostile nation, such as the government or the army, though it may be advantageous to hinder them in their decisions. But it is comparatively easy to influence the rank and file, civilian as well as military, and to produce an atmosphere of hopelessness fatal to success.

Wartime relations can cause a country to get down as we saw in the United States during Vietnam to a point where a large portion of the public doesn’t support the war. One of the ways countries, like the United States, curb this is by creating propaganda. In World War II, the United States used the propaganda to get the public behind the war effort and to unite the country. This propaganda included posters to advertise,

In the United States during World War II, propaganda was everywhere. There were posters with Uncle Sam on them telling young men to enlist in the military and go fight. There were posters with American soldiers and American flags, with the words ‘Buy War Bonds’ at the bottom. The Japanese Navy devastated Pearl Harbor, and in its wake it left the American people with a passion for vengeance. The Empire of Japan was violating widely accepted human rights in eastern Asia, and its government had been seen by the oppressed as a monster that needed to be stopped. The world was divided between two sides, the majority of the nations of the world supporting the Allied Powers. If propaganda had not been used to rally support for the war, it is possible that the war effort would not have been as powerful. Perhaps it could have been weak enough for the Axis Powers to continue building up strength all over the world. However, this does not justify propaganda as something that is absolutely ‘good’.

Propaganda is a key aspect to any kind of war. The elements of boosting morale of citizens in a nation or community in order to gain benefit have been used for many generations of wars and conflicts. As World War II General Douglas MacArthur stated; “One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda.” This means that, if your country agrees with your reason to go to war, you will have plenty of support to start defending what you believe in. Because of this, many strategies in propaganda were used to heavily influence fear into the hearts of the nation, further boosting morale. Untruthful ideas and images were used to convey such ideas.

The Use of Propaganda to Mobilise the Minds of the Nation Toward War Propaganda is defined as a specific type of message presentation aimed at serving an agenda. At its root, the denotation of propaganda is 'to propagate (actively spread) a philosophy or point of view'. The most common use of the term historically is in political contexts; in particular to refer to certain efforts sponsored by governments or political groups. Advertising, religious preaching, etc. are also propaganda, as well as, in today’s world, TV talk shows. During World War 1 all types as propaganda was used to mobilise the minds of the nation towards war.

Additionally, in the BL.UK, “The War Plotters of Wall Street, published in 1915, is an example of this type of propaganda. It tells of a plot by unscrupulous financiers to draw the USA into a war which would be against its own interests and ruinous to its economy.” In detail, often propaganda would help people to believe a specific idea which was made through ideas that everyone believed. Through the ideas that everyone believed people were more likely to be convinced because of how frequent these ideas would be heard. Also, according to an article from Stanford, “Nearly all propaganda aimed at soldiers centered around making them doubt their cause and their reason for being wherever they were fighting. Pamphlets also asked enemy soldiers what they were fighting for, sometimes giving them false, conspiracy-style reasons their country was fighting. This could mean dropping pamphlets vividly describing how their wives and girlfriends back home were cheating on them while they were gone.” By all means, others could therefore also make propaganda to convince people to not support an idea because of fear towards an idea that they wish could never happen to them in hopes that this would not become a true reality to them. Throughout history, propaganda has been used to convince people to do a simple action or task. The use of propaganda often can cause people to become paranoid, becoming afraid, join the army or even leaving the

In order to properly understand the role of propaganda during the war, one has to go back to the beginning and look at not only the cause of the war but also the time in which the war was. The early 1900’s brought about a revolution not only with industrialization within Europe but it also brought about a change in sociopolitical thinking, which in turn led to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria by a socialist. This led to the first world; an earthquake shook Europe as a whole pitting Europeans against each other.