American Propaganda Of The First World War

8 Pages 1907 Words

rding German activities. This process was rather simple, due to the abundance of newspaper, magazine, diplomatic, and military reports covering in great detail the nearly three years of fighting.
As Tucker explains, (1998) the objectives of the fledgling propaganda campaign were basically two-fold—to arouse enmity and hatred against the new enemy, and to rally public support for the war effort through appeals to patriotism; in order to achieve the United States government’s identified goals of increased enlistment, greater industrial production, purchase of war bonds, and other practical measures which would bring the war to a victorious conclusion.
As Keegan discusses, (1999) CPI planning discussions explored a number of options, but soon revolved around implementing a program which relied upon indirect messages rather than overt, logical arguments. CPI efforts would focus upon a strategy which included making calculated emotional appeals, demonizing Germany, linking the war to the goals of various social groups, and, when necessary, perpetrating outright lies.
To execute its propaganda efforts and achieve these objectives, the CPI planned and programmed a number of activities. Some of its most important and widely-distributed work was done by the Division of News, which distributed more than six-thousand press releases and acted as the primary source for war-related information. On any given week, more than twenty-thousand newspaper columns featured material taken directly from...