US Propaganda during WWII

The main use of propaganda is to lead a public influence to the public and gain an understanding of the war efforts. Propaganda has been a part of the government influence since the beginning of strategizing for war. Propaganda is one of the most effective ways to gather the people or a specific audience. The way propaganda was distributed throughout the United States was through the use of different tools of propaganda. The media was the biggest influencer of propaganda. The United States had many ways to broadcast specific propaganda to put the people behind the war effort and to unite the country. Propaganda shaped behaviour and influence with the population. The United States used propaganda to gain the backing of the people during World War II. The techniques of propaganda were used to gain the public interest and will be explain throughout this report.

 Propaganda within the government was simply a technique to manipulate the view of the public. They influenced the population with different tools and styles of propaganda. A lot of the tools used were broadcasting networks and mass media products including posters, magazines, book, and newspapers. The United States had the ability to broadcast new electronically which allowed them to reach a wide range of people quickly and effectively. The ability to broadcast news to such a spread of population was very beneficial to the government. They got the message across the country in no time at all and really gathered an audience. The United States relied on control from others to make the propaganda effective. The Government acts on all aspects of their propaganda to capitalize on it and use it efficiency. The Government and the media operate together to spread propaganda. “With the entry of America into the war, two separate propaganda organizations were set up - the office of strategic services handled black propaganda, and the office of war information worked white propaganda” (Crumm 7).

 They used these specific types of propaganda during the war. Black propaganda focuses on the enemy, creating a vilifying image of the enemy and diminishing their status while hiding a cause. White propaganda does not hide its nature or message rather than black propaganda. The United States used different media outlets to project these messages of propaganda. During the begging of the war efforts, the US government did not want to get directly involved in spreading propaganda. The government simply used it as providing information. As the war movements progress, the government soon got fully involved in more unified propaganda. The propaganda started as, mention above, white propaganda, promptly giving accurate information about a direct source or contact. The United States used posters to advertise war bonds and used infomercials to bring awareness the efforts of the war.

As the war progressed propaganda became deeper and darker. Black propaganda was put in the media, its purpose was to show how the enemy was animalistic and ruthless. These products of propaganda embodied the people of the entire nation as dehumanizing and the media projected fear into the thoughts of Americans, so they would want to take revenge and join the war. These forms of propaganda were to manipulate the people psychologically and train their brain to perceive a certain way. The most common tactic, used for the Japanese, was the fear tactic. Inciting fear into the minds of the people to gain a hatred for the enemy. One popular poster using this tactic is the, “This is the Enemy” poster. It is a Japanese soldier standing over a woman with a knife. The soldier is holding the knife, ready to stab the woman.

The facial expressions used in the poster shows that the soldier has murderous or harmful intent with the knife, and the extreme emotion presented by the woman in lists fear onto the American people. This drives a vicious overview of the Japanese and cause the people to fight for justice over the Japanese. There other elements of this poster besides fear, there is a visual element of stereotypes distinguish from the traditional color of Americans which would be caucasian white and a yellow tone signifying asian decent. The man in the poster is animalised this his dark features and defined features. The sharp nails and big hands approaching the woman gives the name a nasty, frightful appearance. The delicate woman with lost of beauty shows the weakness and innocence of herself. The American people now see the people of Japan as animals with no morals and heartless. The American women with her attractive features inflicts sympathy and pity and the helpless citizens being murdered. These types of propaganda posters had a huge effect on the American people. They wanted to bring justice to the United States and defeat the Japanese as well as the Nazi’s from Germany. 

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