World War I: The Use Of Propaganda In The United States

Propaganda is information that is biased and used to promote a particular cause or point of view. Propaganda was used through movies, radios, news channels, posters, and movies. Propaganda was very important during this time because without it, people won’t join the army and the country will be at risk. Everywhere people looked there was propaganda. Propaganda influenced many people to serve During World War Two. In A Separate Peace, by John Knowles, he shows how the students in there school were easily persuaded to enlist in the war. The three main ways that propaganda was used to persuade individuals to enlist in the war are posters, films, and media.

The second type of poster was the "Victory" poster. In this type of poster, the United States flag and a solider in uniform were shown to give off a patriotic feeling and accompanied by words such as " America, Now and Forever". These posters also used symbols such as Uncle Sam, the American Eagle, and most of all the Stars and Stripes. The third type of posters, "Careless Talk" posters, were in contrast to "Victory" posters. These posters were designed to keep Americans from talking about the war. Talking may seem as harmless, however American authorities feared that spies would overhear American plans of attack and would relay this information to Axis powers. Although not using nation symbols, symbols such as were death, such as a paratrooper and others with cemetery crosses. These posters commonly used the cause-and-effect idea. An example of this is represented in a poster showing a spaniel gazing over his dead owner's naval collar with the words "...because someone talked" underneath. According to Photoworld, "Because someone talked, the spaniel has lost his master, and it conveys a sense of loss." By perceiving this sense of loss, Americans would give their sympathy to the war and to the men and women who were fighting. To attract public compassion for

The "England Expects National Service" poster branches out to every citizen in the Nation to help strengthen the war effort. The large statue of the soldier shows immense pride for the Nation and it persuades those to join the Navy to fufill the expectations of the government. The techniques used in this poster are "bandwagon" and "plain folks". In addition, the use of painting everyday people below the soldier shows that anyone could join and takes more than just one courageous person to make a difference. This poster shows pride for one's country and is very effective at illustrating the fact that ANYONE can help.

(Just as a side note, I had pictures of the posters in the original paper but couldn 't transfer them to here. The first link in the bibliography has tons of WW1 propaganda posters you can use.)

During World War II propaganda posters where used to influence many peoples value, beliefs and behavior. The use of propaganda had a huge impact on the allied and axis power during this time. Both enemy’s used posters to get support from there government and families back home. Creating these posters encouraged people to save their materials so that most of the weapons could be used during the war. Propaganda it was a smart way to get people to degrade the enemy. Furthermore it was a great financial investment for America and its allies during the war. The poster I will address are what I found to be the most interesting and significant during this time.

Through his employment of propaganda, President Wilson was able to: 1. Convince the American people to join the ranks, 2. Persuade Americans into accepting rations for food, 3. Involve women in the war effort, and 4. Sway Americans into buying government bonds (liberty bonds) to fund the war. We will discuss four main propaganda posters, which depict these four main themes of President Wilson’s push for war. In the end, President Wilson’s use of propaganda was ironically able to change the popular American opinion and convince them to support World War I.

World War One posters were everywhere. Each one was used for a purpose, either for political reasons or to promote something, better known as propaganda. These posters could be biased or misleading, but not all were. “Pledge to Save the Food” and “Save the Wheat for our Soldiers” are two posters published by the United States Food Administration. Both made it clear, this was the right thing to do for our soldiers, to be patriotic.

On June 28, 1914, the Archduke of Austria-Hungary, Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated. That event marked the first phase of World War I (Grayzel 10). Soon afterward nations throughout Europe announced declarations of war. By the end of October countries as far away as Japan, China and Brazil had become involved (Grayzel 11).  Susan R. Grayzel in the “Introduction: The First World War and the Making of a Modern, Global Conflict” from The First World War: A Brief History with Documents”, explores a variety of contributing reasons for the Great War (Grayzel 9). The causes most

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

In the 17th century, with the help of propaganda, the Jesuits were able to gain back large areas of central Europe that were lost during the Reformation. Another form of propaganda is political propaganda, which is also quite old. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, which was an example of rational propaganda that was intended to "solidify communal opinion at home and justify the debatable American cause at large." Throughout history then, there were many forms of propaganda used during wars that were to strengthen support for the conflict. With the help of many propagandists it was, and remains possible to make citizens think highly of war.

During the early 1900s a new era of warfare emerged as governments began to employ all economic, technological and psychological resources available to defeat their enemies. This concept of Total War altered the direction of humanity and governments understanding in their allocation of resources. This essay will examine the relationship between propaganda used during World War I, its effect on the masses and the absolutely essential need for the success of such campaigns in obtaining military victory. While leaflet propaganda used during the war will be the main focus, considerations will be given to other forms to illuminate the necessity of understanding and utilizing the tools of this very powerful

For the United States, it had particularly started back in the revolutionary war when the United States was fighting for its freedom from Great Britain, however it can be traced from as far back as the early eighteenth century. Because of this, its presence has been widely known and used in the wars today. For example, towards the beginning of World War 1 the US army needed soldiers so not only did the United States government institute a draft to get soldiers to fight but also campaigned for the war by the use of propaganda. Propaganda in its true definition is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, is used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. So basically, it is used to persuade people a certain way to conform to the point of view of the people giving out propaganda to the media, whatever that may be, newspapers, advertisements, or the internet. These forms of propaganda are effective due to the fact that consumers base most of the decisions off of what they see in the media. For example, during the holocaust in World War 2 Adolph Hitler used propaganda to install fear in the Germans, which eventually lead up to the mass murder of about six million Jewish people. We as a society now know that that was wrong and essentially psychotic however, this

Wartime propaganda has been a major influence in most, if not all, the wars. Propaganda was a powerful weapon in war. It was used in the time of war in many ways. It was utilized to dehumanize and create hatred toward an enemy by creating a false image in the mind of the soldiers and citizens, and to hold power for a leader or dictator.

Propaganda, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is the “spreading of ideas, information, or rumor for the purpose of helping or injuring an institution, a cause, or a person.” The use of propaganda became very popular and successful in countries, such as Great Britain, Germany, and the U.S.A. It also proved that America was the largest producer of pro-war propaganda in the world. Propaganda posters were used commonly to encourage people to join and to make a difference. The posters suggested many ways for the people of the countries to be involved in the war, like suggesting that people should buy liberty bonds or military bonds in order to help the country financially, calling for men to fight and to go the front, drawing women to factories so that they can help with the shells of the bombs and sometimes with the guns, and

Walter Lippmann (known for the term ‘Cold War’) and Edward Bernays (considered to be the father of Public Relations) were in the trenches for the first strikes of the propaganda “attack”, and both considered propaganda to be an essential tool for war. They might have been right as to this day we see warring countries use propaganda to justify their actions.