Propaganda+WWII

American Propaganda during WWII By: Antonio Calderon =**Intro**=

When Americans found out WWII was in the near future most Americans did not want to be a part of it. Americans were just getting out of a economic crises caused from WWI and they did not want to focus on fighting overseas instead of helping rebuild there economy. The government introduced pro war propaganda, as they knew there involvement was necessary. This propaganda did not show much effect until Pearl Harbor was bombed, this showed the Americans that the war was not that far away from home anymore. From here on propaganda played a massive roll in American success in WWII.

=**Media**=

**Posters:**
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍The U.S used posters at their main source of propaganda, they printed roughly 200,000 different types of posters duringthe duration of WWII. The posters would send many different messages like recruiting, production, secrecy, conservation, home efforts, and of course to buy war bonds. ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Unlike every other country the U.S only showed positive by showing patriotism and duty. Other countries focused on making the enemy look bad therefor making people want to help. This is one of the main reasons posters played such a big roll for America in recruiting and very other aspect the government felt that needed to be touched on.

All posters were not being made by the government but instead they were being created by artists that did not get paid to make them, they just did it to try to help their country. The U.S government held competitions for artists of all ages to create there own posters so the government had lots of variety of designs to influence its people.

** ﻿Radio: **

Radio was used all over the U.S, it was so big that it began to make other sources of media less practical then they were in other nations. Roosevelt used his fireside chats for this purpose. Series like “This is War” by Norman Corwin started to broadcast all around the U.S and even around the world. Radio messages were so effective that it even led to the Italian Navy to surronder.

This scared many of Americas enemies as they could hear on the radio things being bombed but the reporters never gave enough information to know what or where was being attacked. This gave the United States an edge against other nations.


 * Movies, Animation, and Cartoons: **

The United States government used cartoons as a form of propaganda on the youth of the nation. They created comic strips, tv shows, movies, and even cartoons for all ages to support its nation. Most of these showed how winning the war was going to take a lot of hard work but it was going to all be worth it at the end of the day. It showed that you could be doing simple things from buying war bonds to home efforts and be considered a hero. This gave many people the motivation to do whatever they could to help out their country. The children as they grew already had this motivation from all the propaganda they saw in their youth. media type="youtube" key="rQsOOfU59SM" height="251" width="403"media type="youtube" key="tEcJF0EVT54" height="293" width="335"

=**Themes**=


 * War Bonds[[image:http://www.amazingco.com/amazingco.com/comics/misc/items/m92.jpg width="150" height="207" align="right"]] **

Wars are expensive and the economy is usually hit very hard during and after a war. The government also need funds to keep a war going which goes toward weapons, food, transportation and such. The main way the government got helped by its nation during war economically was by war bonds. People would save up to buy war bonds which were marketed as if your investing in success of your country. War bond propaganda was everywhere from the radio to schools where children were being taught the importance of them. The United states had huge success with their war bond propaganda as they sold around 135 billion dollars worth of them. The U.S sold so many because of the way they were advertised and because they were available everywhere. It was common for them to be sold at social event and war bond rallies would often be held.


 * Axis **

Axis propaganda is when war is made to seem like a battle of good versus evil. The U.S would use this tactic mostly in recruiting poster and cartoons. Usually the enemy would be created into a monster or something evil that is non human. For example Hitler would be a big monster destroying a city and the Americans would be the good people trying to protect the city from destruction. Children would never know the true facts as even in schools they would be taught from a very biest point of view. This made lots of people want to fight for their country to protect them from the "monsters."


 * Victories **

During war it is hard to keep motivated to keep on fighting, the government would overplay every little victory the U.S won and underplay every loss. This was done to keep everyone still wanting to keep on helping and be part of the next "victory" as the propaganda made any little win seem like a huge success. This left many American with the hunger to keep on winning those battle, this ended up being a very powerful way to keep the nation wanting to keep fighting.


 * False Optimism **



This was one of the most misleading themes of propaganda used my the U.S in WWII. This would make everyone believe that there was hope for something that was an impossible goal. It would say how hard work was needed to keep keep on fighting somewhere because it was going to well. In reality there would be many deaths that went unspoken of so the people would keep on wanting to support it.

As the war went on woman had to learn how to do the jobs of men as men were all off at war. It was not common for woman be out working as most were housewives. It was hard for not only the woman to understand that they were needed in many jobs but also for the men to realize that there wives needed to do so. The woman would be influenced by the propaganda to go out there and get employed wherever they could. Posters gave tips on how to find a job and even how to convince their husbands that this action needed to be taken. The propaganda was so powerful that from 1941-1943 the number of woman working rose by 15%. In this time propaganda worked hard to make it seem as if the "glamour girls" were the ones working in factories, the woman that could keep her looks while working hard. The biggest motivation for woman to join the work force was that they could bring there me home sooner. All of this would have not been able to be achieved if if i were not for key woman figures like Rosie the Riveter and MRS.
 * Woman Power **