Propaganda and World War I

Gaining American Support

• How did Americans feel about entering the War?

• What were some reasons Americans wanted to remain neutral?

• What were some reasons Americans wanted to join the war effort?

• Was America really neutral?

Propaganda during the War

• Great Britain– Presented the

Germans as cruel and inhumane

Great Britain

• Patriotic posters for the war effort

France

• Like British, French produced patriotic posters to support the war effort

Allies

• Use propaganda to compel other countries to join their cause (especially Americans)

German Propaganda

• Pictured Wilson as falsely claiming neutrality and helping the Allies

• Messages to Germans that they were winning the war– No signs of weaknesses on the warfront– German people deeply shocked by defeat and

subsequent Versailles Treaty• This shock will open the door for the blaming of

German leaders• Will also lead to Hitler’s rise and the people’s

support of the NAZI regime

• Propaganda will be widely used by Germany in WWII

• Reich Propaganda Leader Josef Goebbels

So what is propaganda?

• Propaganda is a kind of biased communication designed to influence people’s thought and actions– Where have we heard of propaganda being

used before and how was it used?– How is propaganda used today?– Can you think of some examples?

America enters the War

• April 1917: America joins WWI on the side of the Allies

• Need to gain the support of the public and recruit men to serve in military– Why do you need to gain the support of the

public?– How does the public help the war effort during

this time?– Do we still make sacrifices like this for war?

American Propaganda

• Wilson establishes the Committee on Public Information

• This is the nation’s first committee solely devoted to propaganda

• Also known as the Creel committee after the chairman, George Creel

• Who was George Creel?

• George Creel

• Famous Muckraker before heading the CPI– As head of the CPI, he assembled a team of

75,000 public speakers known as “Four Minute Men” who gave speeches throughout the country supporting the war effort

• In 1920 he published the book How We Advertised America about his propaganda efforts

• Nationwide publicity campaign

• Used rallies, parades, posters, pamphlets, songs, and speeches to gain support for the war

CPI

Example of American Propaganda

• Analyzing propaganda – George M. Cohan’s Over There

• So what did we learn today?

ASSIGNMENT: You are to develop a piece of propaganda on your own. This needs to be something that could have been used as propaganda in World War I. It can be for any of the countries involved and can be any piece of media ( a song, a speech, a poster, etc.) This is to be completed for homework and is due tomorrow at the beginning of class.