Top Text Title:


Top Text:
American wartime propaganda covered all arenas - all items of the spectrum. As stated in the "Introduction", historian John Dower determined that American journalists, cartoonists and artists depicted the Germans and Japanese quite differently in their respective propaganda posters, cartoons, and postcards. Anti-German and Anti-Japanese propaganda was evident even in American cartoons, such as Popeye and the animal medley of the Warner Brothers animations. Children's author Dr. Seuess drew political cartoons urging Americans not to hide their head in the sand like ostriches and remain willfully ignorant of Hitler's power. The American government warned against "loose lips" in itsposters, admonishing its citizens to be careful of what they say out loud because the Japanese spies were listening (many Japanese-Americans were held in internment camps), and warned them that not recycling was giving the Japanese an advantage. The U.S. Government urged its citizens to invest in the War and support the U.S. Military by buying war bonds. In many posters, the message was implied that the very sake of the war depended on American citizens buying bonds from its government! It also implied to its female citizens thatlonging for their husbands to come home would not bring them back - but getting a war job (any vocation devoted to supporting the economic needs of the U.S. Military) would end the war sooner. An important distinction between the USA and the other two roles is that there was overwhelming support for the war at its beginning which was maintained, to a great degree, for the duration of the war. The mobilization towards war revitalized the United States economy and pulled America out of its Great Depression. Also, Unlike Great Britain and Germany, the United States was not attacked on the home front to any considerable degree after the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, support for the war was not absolute, and President Roosevelt and the members of his War Cabinet certainly would have wanted it to be. Historians have proven that many U.S. Presidents (including John F. Kennedy, for example) have had close relationships with the Editors in Chief of powerful newspapers. Imagine that your boss is the Editor in Chief of the New York Times (or its equivalent) in WWII. He has received a message, he tells you, from President Roosevelt, which says that support for the war has max'd out at 70%. The President finds this number unacceptable and he wants your boss to change it. Your boss has assigned the task to you, stating that you must find a propaganda image that will rally support for the war and bring that number up to at least 85%. Remember the "Task" as it is described on the page of the same name, above, and good luck!

Links Section Title:

Links

Bottom Text Title:


Bottom Text:
Check out your local library and bookstore for these titles, which give you more background information on the power of persuasion with propaganda and the importance of morale among citizens during wartime. "War Without Mercy: Race-Hatred in the Pacific War" by John Dower "V Was For Victory: Politics and American Culture During World War II" by John Morton "The War in American Culture : Society and Consciousness During World War II" by Lewis A. Erenberg "Don't You Know There's a War On? The American Home Front, 1941-1945" by Richard R. Lingeman

Show Google Safe Search on this page