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World War 2 Propaganda Research Paper

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Recommended: Analyze the propaganda techniques used in world war two article

Sarah Grout
Mr. Murphy
Period 5
21 November 2015

World War II: Failed Propaganda by the U.S Home Front

World War II: Failed Propaganda by the U.S Home Front

Militaristic conflict between the United States and Japan began long before the bombing on Pearl Harbor, December 7th 1941. A mere ten years earlier in 1931, tensions began to boil between the two countries when Japan invaded Manchuria and expanded further into Western Asia. When news of this invasion hit America, in an effort to stop supporting the soon-to-be enemy, President Hoover made the executive decision to put an embargo on all scrap metal and war supplies being sold to Japan at the time. The attack on Pearl Harbor followed closely behind …show more content…

Leaflets were common ways of distributing propaganda to both the Japanese and the U.S citizens along with posters, drawings, and harsh speeches of destruction to come with a constant goal of dehumanizing the enemy. Although both sides used these tactics on each other, the propaganda used by the Americans was more successful in catalyzing the war. Out of this new style of war came three new branches of government clearly aimed at the propagandist war: the Psychological Warfare Branch, the Office of Civilian Defense and the Office of War Information. Both of these branches of the wartime effort were simply aimed at the American people and telling the American people why the country was at war. However, in order to distort the American perception of the war and make the Japanese seem worse than they actually were, corrupt and twisted images of the truth were circulated throughout the country. In the early 1900’s, a German-language writer known as Franz Kafka had developed a theory about human behavior when exposed to degenerate situations, such as war, mental institutions and prisons. By dropping leaflets to the Japanese public and introducing a certain Kafkaesque element to soldiers, the propaganda used by the Americans in World War II against the Japanese hastened the effect of war …show more content…

Soon after the propagandist campaign and psychological war had began, the U.S government soon learned of how the psychological warfare used when morale was low was more effective than distributing surrender leaflets to an enemy with troops with a high morale (McMasters). Unlike previous wars where combat was strictly a military test of superior ammunition, defense, and armed troops, the beginning of World War II became a psychological battlefield in which a mental struggle that both citizens and soldiers fought. (Lerner). Unlike many wars and battles to come before it, WWII was the first war in which propaganda was used in such a devastating and detrimental way that conflicts after would never be fought again the same

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Source A: “Will you fight now,or wait for THIS”, was created by the Commonwealth Government of Australia. This source is a propaganda poster created in WW1,1918 and is sourced in Australia. Source A poster was created to persuade civilians, in particular males in between the ages of 18 to 45, to enlist in the military to fight in WW1. The intended audience for this Source would be Australian citizens. This source would be useful to a historian studying propaganda in the field of Australian War history during WW1.

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Propaganda was used as a way to get the people of the United States involved in helping with war

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Source A “Will you fight now or wait for this” has been created by the Commonwealth Government of Australia. This source is a poster from World War 1 and designed in 1918. The poster was created to persuade people from Australia, especially men between the ages of 18 and 35 to fight against the Triple Alliance, and to also prevent the German Empire from invading Australia. Additionally, Source A would be useful to a historian studying the impact of propaganda on the Australian society during World War 1. This source would be useful because it depicts the outcome of Australia, If no troops from Australia were ordered to fight against the German Empire, nevertheless It also shows the experiences and impacts directed towards the civilians after

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One of the primary goals of any effective propaganda is to get an emotional response. These emotions could then be harnessed and directed towards action for the desired goals, in this case supporting the war effort. During World War Two, Soldiers and cilvilians suffered from intensive bombing, the frequent night raids and continual threat sometimes several air raids a day left people in a constant state of exhaustion and fear. Moreover, Lepelier after the war, constantly refers to him as being a “psycho”showing that he has lost his mental balance and childhood innocence after joining the war.

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There is a poster (Example 1 in citations) that depicts the words "Stay on the job until every murdering Jap is wiped out!" It shows a picture of a man, probably a Japanese soldier, hitting somebody with his rifle. It also has the headline of "5,200 Yank prisoners killed by Jap Torture..." This is an effective example of demonizing the enemy. It shows the enemy committing atrocities, to convince Americans to not sympathize with the Japanese.

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In order to grow support for the U.S. entering the war, the government used patriotic persuasion and legal intimidation to shift people's perspectives. For example, the Committee of Public Information created a propaganda campaign that promoted U.S. soldiers as heroes. Groups worked to convey the war in a positive light and create

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In order for them to support the war, the government used propaganda to evoke feelings of nationalism. While the United States joined the war as an opportunity to get revenge on Japan, propaganda was often censored to guarantee that Americans only saw the damage Japanese soldiers had done to Americans. To insure that Americans would not be put off and maintain the desire for war, images of dead Americans were prevented from being published to the public. (“Supporting Evidence”). Government officials knew that citizens were unable to withstand the gruesome photos taken of the realities of the war.

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During WWI, help is needed to bring all the citizens united and in an agreement with war, as well as raising fundings, raising the number of people in the workforce, mainly women, and having the military 's back. They needed to acquire food and other supplies for the men that were fighting in the trench warfare and replace the jobs that they left. The federal government sought support on the home front by propaganda, enforcing new laws, and through speeches and events. Propaganda was one of the main ways to get a message across, and that was what the government liked; strong and convincing cartoons that encouraged people to provide aid on the home front and encouraging women to occupy the jobs that the soldiers left to help the economy

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This can also be seen in wars taken place in real life, one of them WWI. For instance, the use of propaganda was essential for getting people to be pro-war and being nationalists to the point where they would “do their part” and buy war bonds or join the military. Propaganda plays a prominent role during wartime because the intentions behind propaganda were to influence an individual's point of view. If an individual involuntarily and continuously is told peace will come after war, they are prone to believe the fatuous lie. The famous Uncle Sam, was created to persuade the average American man to join the army.(Cooke)

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A leading 19th century psychologist named William James stated this about propaganda: "There's nothing so absurd that if you repeat it often enough, people will believe it”. Propaganda is information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. This is evident in the televised premature ending of the Montag’s chase and in the symbolism of 451 by the government in Ray Bradbury’s dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. However, in our world propaganda has been used to unite a country through targeted mass persuasion. This is seen in two classic U.S propaganda posters that encourage U.S citizens to join the army: “I want you”(index 1) and “Remember Dec. 7th” (index 2).

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