With the entry of the United States into World War II, the U.S. government took steps to protect war planning and to promote war sentiments among its citizens. Although war correspondents were permitted to work among troops on the war fronts, information regarding troop movements was carefully guarded.
When World War II began in Europe in 1939, U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt realized that the United States had no agencies to handle propaganda. Such agencies would become necessary if the nation were to enter the war. To prepare for this eventuality, the president established several such agencies, as well as an office of censorship, a necessity in wartime, to suppress opposing views against the war effort. When war was declared on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt immediately mobilized for U.S. involvement in the European conflict as well. The president was a master propagandist, with considerable rhetorical skills, who realized that his mission as a wartime leader was to use those skills to provide leadership.
By the time the United States entered the war, Roosevelt already had established a propaganda effort in Latin America by creating the Office of the Coordination of Commercial and Cultural Relations Between the American Republics (OCCCRBAR). OCCCRBAR had been created by order of the Council of National Defense on August 16, 1940. Nelson A. Rockefeller
With the establishment by Congress of the Office of War Information
An important part of the OWI’s work were the posters that very effectively communicated the office’s messages. These posters included Someone Talked! (1942); Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms (1943), inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 speech; and the classic Loose Lips Sink Ships. The poster, inexpensive, colorful, and immediate, was the ideal medium for delivering messages about American duties on the home front during World War II. The posters touched on all aspects of wartime life, from the factory, where workers were instructed to take shorter cigarette breaks and focus on increased production (“KILLING Time Is KILLING Men”), to the home, where conserving scarce resources was essential (“We’ll have lots to eat this winter, won’t we Mother? Grow your own”), to the farm, where eggs and meat were wartime weapons in their own right (“Our Allies Need Eggs” and “Grow It Yourself Plan a Farm Garden Now”). Victory magazine, published from 1943 to 1946 by the OWI, was similar in format to Life magazine; it was translated into at least six languages.
Motion-picture production became a joint effort between the Hollywood studios
In this World War II propaganda poster, Americans are reminded never to reveal sensitive information to anyone, because “loose lips sink ships.”
Also popular were documentaries. General George C. Marshall commissioned film director Frank Capra to produce the Why We Fight series
Rosie the Riveter
To strengthen U.S. participation in the “war of words,” President Roosevelt established the Voice of America
In addition to the propaganda designed to disseminate messages deemed beneficial to the war effort, the United States engaged in censorship of messages deemed harmful to that effort. The Office of Censorship
The new Office of Censorship created the Code of Wartime Practices
During World War II, propaganda became more important for the United States than in any previous war. World War II was arguably the first truly global conflict, and it required more combat personnel, more military support personnel, and more homefront workers in war-related industries than had any previous war. As a result, a greater proportion of the populace needed to be motivated to participate wholeheartedly in the war effort. For this reason, U.S. propaganda was a combined effort that involved government agencies, the military, businesses, and civilian organizations.
Propagandists stressed American economic productivity, power, and commitment to the war effort, while emphasizing the importance of defending the American way of life. Media efforts were designed to promote the sale of war bonds, to boost military recruitment, to increase the number of women and minority workers in factories, and to persuade citizens to ration limited resources responsibly and to grow “victory gardens.” Hollywood studios cooperated with the government and with the military in film production, while the government produced its own films as well. Radio broadcasts, particularly the VOA, began in the form of a news service to occupied Europe; today, the VOA continues to broadcast. Along with propaganda came censorship, a necessary part of the wartime effort, but Price and his agency managed a fairly successful operation that existed, for the most part, harmoniously with the media.
-
Bird, William L., and Harry R. Rubenstein. Design for Victory: World War II Posters on the American Homefront. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1998. Based on the collection in the National Museum of American History and on records of the OWI, this book presents its readers with a vast number of posters and outlines the evolution of poster propaganda. -
Cull, Nicholas J., David Culbert, and David Welch. Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: A Historical Encyclopedia, 1500 to the Present. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-Clio, 2003. Encyclopedia that includes several well written articles on World War II topics, alphabetically arranged, that cover the innumerable forms, methods, and practitioners of propaganda over the past five hundred years. Political movements and figures loom large in the content. -
Daugherty, William E., ed. Psychological Warfare Casebook. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1958. Casebook compilation of essays on psychological warfare and propaganda, many of which are based on personal experiences of the authors. Prepared as a training guide for military personnel assigned to psychological warfare planning and operations. -
Davis, Elmer H., and Byron Price. War Information and Censorship. Washington, D.C.: American Council on Public Affairs, n.d. Two lengthy essays by the heads of the OWI and the Office of Censorship during World War II. Each author discusses the mission of his agency and its execution of that mission. -
Holsinger, W. Paul, ed. War and American Popular Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1999. Emphasis is on the nonmilitary aspect of war, specifically the homefront culture. The chapter on World War II, one of the longest in the book, features an introductory essay followed by brief descriptions of significant popular persons, events, and artifacts, among which are television programs, sculpture, songs, comic books, films, novels, and theatrical productions. -
Paper Bullets: Great Propaganda Posters, Axis and Allied Countries, WWII. New York: Chelsea House, 1977. Lavishly illustrated compilation of beautifully reproduced posters (all in color) from both sides of World War II. Features an essay by Daniel Lerner on psychological warfare and the significant role that posters played in the propaganda war. -
Winkler, Allan M. Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1978. Short history of the wartime propaganda agency, with good background on its creation. Provides more detail on the OWI’s overseas operations than on its domestic section.
6.6 Million Women Enter the U.S. Labor Force
Nazis Ban Nolde’s Paintings
Bombing of Pearl Harbor
Voice of America Begins Broadcasting
Casablanca Marks the Artistic Apex of 1940’s War-Themed Films
Japan Orders Kamikaze Attacks
American Flag Is Raised at Iwo Jima
War Correspondent Pyle Dies in Combat