A View of Biased Information in America During The War

WWII Propaganda

American propaganda in World War One was primarily focused on the recruitment of soldiers, financing the war, unifying the nation, conserving resources and increasing support from Americans. In this poster, the intention is to recruit young men to enlist into the armed forces. The images on this poster attempt to achieve their goal in appealing to potential recruits by implementing a patriotic appeal. A patriotic appeal is done by portraying a patriotic symbol or representation of one’s country or one’s love for their country in the image and tying it to the goal of the artist. (Propagand Techniques) In this case, there is an American flag and American soldiers pictured in patriotic or otherwise appealing actions used to lure the intended audience into the military. (Symbols of Americanism)

The first, top left image labeled “Worth Working For” shows a soldier holding a large sized check from “Uncle Sam and Company”. The check is not for a monetary value, however. Paid to the order of “The American soldier,” the amount paid is shown as “Patriotism, Education & Manhood.” This is a good example of patriotic appeal as well as emotional appeal. The emotional appeal can be argued for young men who are transitioning into manhood and are looking for somewhere to belong, perhaps wanting to feel like more of a grown man. This poster depicts joining the military as the perfect opportunity to serve your country, learn valuable lessons and mature into manhood. (Symbols of Americanism)

The second, middle-left image titled “Gathering the Fruit” is one of a soldier on a ladder that is labeled “education training” leaned up against an apple tree. He holds a basket of unlabeled apples as he reaches to pick the next apple. The apples drawn on the tree are labeled ambition, health, thrift, confidence and good citizenship. These words are portrayed as the lessons a young man in the military could learn and the soldier in the drawing is depicted to be these things with a smile on his face as if gathering these “fruits” have made him happy. It is expected that the audience of this piece of propaganda would yearn for these qualities and be swayed to join the military in order to attain them. (Symbols of Americanism)

The third drawing, bottom-left, is one of two soldiers talking to one another. Soldier one is holding a rifle and can be assumed to be on guard duty or similar. Soldier two has his sleeves rolled up and is holding a bucket in each hand. Though it is not specified in the drawing which soldier says what, it can be inferred that Soldier One is the one asking “What do you know about Shorty going AWOL?” Soldier Two replies “I know we’re doing HIS work.” This piece of propaganda is intended to inform the audience that being Absent With Out Leave is a dishonorable act and inconvenient to the rest of one’s team. This picture shows what a young man in the military should not do once they have joined. In a way, expecting that one will join. (Symbols of Americanism)

The fourth, middle-right image, titled “Privilege means Responsibility” shows a soldier in two different positions. The first one is captioned “out on time” with the soldier drawn walking away from the viewer as he holds a piece of paper in his hand labeled “pass.” The second image is of the same soldier returning, walking toward the viewer with his pass in hand and is captioned “back on time.” This portion of the poster defines the privilege of being allowed to leave your duty station and the expectation to honor your word of returning to your duty station when required to. (Symbols of Americanism)

The last image is the bottom-right one labeled “you’re making this now”. In it, a soldier holds several sheets of paper up labeled “service record” indicating that as soon as a young man enlists he will begin creating his service record that will be complete upon his “honorable discharge” from the military. This image is the pushiest because it makes it clear that the end goal of the military is to honorably discharge men after using once their efforts are no longer needed. On the other hand, this could be an attempt to lure young men in who would like to volunteer but not necessarily make a career from the military. (Symbols of Americanism)

Each of the images on this poster can be assessed to have patriotic appeals as well as emotional appeals because the sense of patriotism evokes feelings of love, pride and devotion to the United States.