World War II Propaganda Analysis

“Propaganda is a monologue that is not looking for an answer, but an echo,” (W. H. Auden). World War II, like many other wars, was influenced by myriad of different variables. One variable that echoed throughout America was propaganda. Propaganda was a major influence in the rally for overall support in America during World War II. The propaganda’s intentions in World War II can be broken down into three major categories: war efforts, Anti-German and Anti-Japanese backing, and homefront endeavors. Similarly, propaganda came in many forms, as the TV was starting to make itself known in the 1930s. These numerous forms include political cartoons, posters, novels, comic books, movies, and cartoons. Furthermore, propaganda could be very specific

An example would be “Be Sure You Have Correct Time.” This poster, aimed to persuade the minds of many Americans to adopt anti-foreign policies on many countries who were going to war with us at the same time. Therefore, the propaganda was trying to exploit the foreign countries’ citizens who we were at war with. A second example would be the poster titled, “This is the Enemy.” The poster depicted a Japanese soldier carrying a naked, white women. Many posters like this one demonstrated severe amounts of racism in order to cast the enemies as less than human. This influenced the audience to then morally justify the way they feel about the enemy. In summation, the intended audience of the propaganda had a hefty impact on what the subject of the poster was and what its goal

The U.S. Government knew that the effective use of propaganda could further their advancement in winning the war and would help to gain support on the home front. Therefore, Franklin D. Roosevelt commissioned the Office of War Information (OWI) from June 1942 to September 1945. This office controlled what type of media was being displayed to Americans during wartime in Hollywood and the radio. The main goal of the OWI was to inspire patriotic fervor within the nation. The exaggerations the office would include often persuaded many Americans to take action. One caption on a picture of two women simply talking during their job read, “Pearl Harbor Widows have gone into war work to carry on the fight with a personal vengeance. Mrs. Virginia Young whose husband was one of the first casualties of World War II, is a supervisor in the Assembly and Repairs Department of the Naval Air Base. Her job is to find convenient and comfortable living quarters for women workers from out of the state, like Ethel Mann, who operates an electric