Tag: propaganda

04/3/11

What do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXO88iyOyK8

The Red Menace was one of many anticommunist movies and media that America produced during the Cold War. These movies acted as a propaganda that criticized communism and brought a negative view of it. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, a policy called “militant liberty” was used in movie productions that inserted a theme of freedom. Militant liberty shaped many viewers’ opinions of communism and instilled a Pro-American view of the nation. This was used frequently in films during 1940s to 1950 proposing anti-Nazi and anti- communist opinions to viewers.
I am sure America would be very different today if this policy had not existed. By producing many anti-communism films, the opinion of Americans towards communism had undoubtedly become negative. If this had not happened, Americans probably would have had polarized views of communism. This would definitely hurt the nation’s unity and give communism a fight chance at changing our country today.

03/2/11

Give us Money! Buy a Bond!

During WW1, War bonds were sold, These bonds were called Liberty bonds. These bonds were to help finance the war.

The first issue of these bonds was not all sold, which did not make Treasury Department look very good.  This eventually involved a launched of a massive campaigns using posters, and  movie stars to make it popular .  This was a major movement in American history during world war one, that helped make investment public.    It was an important way to raise funding for the war.

03/2/11

The Test of Mental Strength

During the beginning of World War I, there brought many controversies in the United States to whether to join the war or not. There were groups such as the Industrial Workers of the World and the Socialist Party whom were completely against entering in this war. They deemed this war as “a crime against the people of the United States.” With so much negativity towards this, the Wilson administration created the Committee of Public (CPI) on April 1917 to counter these groups. The job of the CPI were to create propaganda to promote people to join the war efforts in order to fight for their liberties. Edward Barnard considered this as a “intelligent manipulation” to the masses.

Foner did a good job explaining how the Wilson Administration went about to counter the negative feelings about war and ultimately convincing people into joining the war. This confirms what I’ve thought about propaganda being used and added in a way on how propaganda was distributed

03/1/11

The Brainwashing Committee

In 1917, President Wilson’s administration came up with the CPI, or Committee on Public Information. What this committee did was it tried to manipulate the opinions of the public. They wanted to convince Americans to agree with America’s stance to go into World War 1. They did this by using “posters, newspaper advertisements, and motion pictures” to help spread the governments ideas. They also had Four-Minute Men who would go around trying to help sway the public’s opinions. These men targeted every audience, including most immigrant groups. In the end this committee proved very successful.

Foner covers this topic in less than a page, however he covers it very well. He tellsthe story like it is, and does not praise or admonish the CPI. He rather explains how this was the first time that America had dealt with this sort of mass advertising, and it influenced many people of the future, including advertisers of today. Although they did not know it at the time, this committee shifted the way America ran, and its impacts are still felt today.