As in Britain, American propaganda depicted the war as an issue of
good versus evil, which allowed the government to encourage its population to fight a "just war," and used themes of
resistance in and liberation to the occupied countries. In 1940, even prior to being drawn into World War II, President Roosevelt urged every American to consider the effect if the dictatorships won in Europe and Asia.
Precision bombing was praised, exaggerating its accuracy, to convince people of the difference between good and bad bombing.
Hitler,
Tojo,
Mussolini and their followers were the villains in American film, even in cartoons where characters, such as
Bugs Bunny, would defeat them Cartoons depicted Axis leaders as not being human. Roosevelt proclaimed that the war against the
dictatorships had to take precedence over the
New Deal. Artists and writers were strongly divided on whether to encourage hatred for the enemy, which occasioned debates. The government rarely intervened in such debates, only occasionally suggesting lines for art to take. However, the OWI suggested plot lines using Axis agents in place of traditional villainous roles, such as the rustler in Westerns. In one speech,
Henry Wallace called for post-war efforts to psychologically disarm the effect of the Axis powers, requiring schools to undo, as far as possible, the poisoning of children's minds by Hitler and the Japanese "
warlords." Two days later, a Dr. Seuss's editorial cartoon showed
Uncle Sam using bellows to drive germ out of the mind of the child "Germany," while holding the child "Japan" ready for the next treatment. Hitler's dictatorship was often heavily satirized. To raise morale, even prior to the turning of the war in the Allies' favor, Hitler often appeared in editorial cartoons as doomed.
Nazi Germany was treated as the worst evil within the Axis, a greater threat than Japan and Italy. To counter the much greater desire in the United States to attack Japan, operations in the North African theater were implemented, despite military counterindications, to increase support for attacking Germany. Without such involvement, public pressure to more heavily support the war in the Pacific might have proven irresistible to American leaders. Germans were often stereotyped as evil in films and posters, although many atrocities were specifically ascribed to Nazis and Hitler specifically, rather than to the undifferentiated German people.
Alternate history novels depicted Nazi invasions of America to arouse support for
interventionism. The
Writers' War Board compiled lists of books banned or burned in
Nazi Germany and distributed them for propaganda purposes, and thousands of commemorations of the book burnings were staged.
Anti-Italian as strongly against peace
Mussolini also appeared in situations ridiculing him. Italians were often stereotyped as evil in films and posters. Drawing on
bushido traditions, American propagandists portrayed the Japanese as blindly fanatic and ruthless, with a history of desiring overseas conquests. Japanese propaganda, such as
Shinmin no Michi (or
The Way of the Subjects), called for the Japanese people to become "one hundred million hearts beating as one"—which Allied propagandists used to portray the Japanese as a mindless, unified mass. Atrocities were ascribed to the Japanese people as a whole. Even prior to the
attack on Pearl Harbor, accounts of atrocities in China roused considerable antipathy for Japan. Such books as
Pearl Buck's
The Good Earth and
Freda Utley's
China At War aroused sympathy for the Chinese. As early as 1937, Roosevelt condemned the Japanese for their aggression in China. The
Nanjing Massacre achieved particular notoriety due to the number of Western witnesses to it, with Chinese propagandists using it to cement Allied opinion. Propaganda based on the attack on Pearl Harbor was used with considerable effectiveness, because its outcome was enormous and impossible to counter. Initial reports termed it a "sneak attack" and "infamous behavior". "
Remember Pearl Harbor!" became the watchword of the war. Reports of the maltreatment of American prisoners of war also aroused fury, as did reports of atrocities against native populations, with babies being thrown in the air to be caught on bayonets receiving particular attention. When three of the
Doolittle Raiders were executed, it evoked a passion for revenge in America, and the image of the "Japanese ape" became common in film and cartoons. The diary of a dead Japanese soldier, which contained an entry coolly recounting the execution of a downed airman, was given considerable play as a demonstration of the true nature of the enemy. The early overwhelming Japanese successes led to a pamphlet "Exploding the Japanese 'Superman' Myth" to counter the effect. The limitations of Japanese troops it cited, although minor, were actual flaws to counter the impression GIs had of Japanese military prowess. The
Doolittle Raid was staged after urging from Roosevelt for a counter-attack, if only for morale reasons. to promote continuous fighting "until every murdering Jap is wiped out!" Japanese calls for devotion to death were used to present a war of extermination as the only possibility, without any question as to whether it was desirable. One Marine unit was briefed: "Every Japanese has been told that it is his duty to die for the emperor. It is your duty to see that he does so." The
suicides at Saipan—of women, children, and the elderly as well as fighting men—only reinforced that belief. A thorough defeat of the Japanese was argued for in magazines so as to prevent a resurgence, as happened in Germany after World War I, of Japanese military power or ambition. This encouraged American forces to attack civilians, on the belief they would not surrender, which fed into
Japanese propaganda about American atrocities.
Hirohito,
Hideki Tojo, and undifferentiated "Japs" were often portrayed in caricature.
Dr. Seuss's editorial cartoons, which often depicted Hitler and Mussolini, opted for a "Japan" figure rather than any given leader. One OWI suggestion for adapting "pulp" formulas was a sports story of a professional baseball team touring Japan, which would allow the writers to show the Japanese as ruthless and incapable of sportsmanship. American popular songs at the time included "
We're Gonna Have to Slap the Dirty Little Jap," "Taps for the Japs," "We’ll Nip the Nipponese," "We’re going to play
Yankee Doodle in Tokyo," and "
You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap." Wartime filmmakers embellished characteristics of Japanese culture that the American people would find scandalously foreign. Indeed, many Americans believed that Germany had convinced Japan to attack Pearl Harbor. As the war progressed, Japanese soldiers and civilians would be portrayed in films as evil, rat faced enemies that desired global domination. In countries occupied by Japan and forced to join its would-be
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, the failure to sustain the economic level prior to the war, particularly in the
Philippines, was quickly used in propaganda about the "Co-Poverty Sphere." Leaflets air-dropped to the Japanese people informed them of the
Potsdam Declaration, which brought to bear the extent of Allied victory, and of the Japanese government's peace negotiations, undermining the ability of the Japanese hard-liners to insist on continued war.
Careless talk showing a dead
United States Navy seaman, presumably killed in an enemy attack as a result of leaked intelligence Many posters ridiculed and shamed careless talk as providing information to the enemy, resulting in Allied deaths. His effort presented to the public as a device to prevent people with sensitive information from talking about it where spies or saboteurs could listen in. However, that was not the real purpose, for the propaganda continued long after the enemy fleet had been sunk and their spy networks destroyed. The problem was with negative rumors, that spread much faster than good news, and threaten to weaken home front morale or make American groups fear or hate each other. Historian D'Ann Campbell argues that the purpose of the wartime posters, propaganda, and censorship of soldiers' letters was not to foil spies, but "to clamp as tight a lid as possible on rumors that might lead to discouragement, frustration, strikes, or anything that would cut back military production." This was a major topic endorsed by the Office of War Information. Other slogans used for this type of poster were "loose talk costs lives", "
loose lips sink ships", "Another careless word, another wooden cross", and "bits of careless talk are pieced together by the enemy". Rumor mongering was discouraged on the grounds it fomented divisions in America and promoted defeatism and alarmism.
Alfred Hitchcock directed
Have You Heard?, a photographic dramatization of the dangers of rumors during wartime, for
Life magazine.
Victories Battle victories and heroism were promoted for morale purposes, while losses and defeats were underplayed. Despite his blunders in the first days of the war, General
Douglas MacArthur was presented as a war hero due to the dire need for one. The desperate situation on
Bataan was played down, although its fall caused considerable demoralization. The
Doolittle Raid was carried out solely to help morale rather than to cause damage, a purpose which it fulfilled. After the
Battle of Coral Sea, the Navy reported more Japanese damage than had actually been inflicted, and declared it a victory, which the Japanese also did. The decisive victory at the
Battle of Midway was emblazoned on newspaper headlines, but was reported with restraint and the U.S. Navy overstated the Japanese damage.
Life warned that Midway did not mean that Japan was no longer on the offensive. In 1942, the survivors of the
Battle of Savo Island were removed from public circulation to prevent news from leaking, and the August 9th disaster did not reach the newspapers until mid-October. Limiting the distribution of bad news caused difficulty with
gasoline rationing, as Americans were kept unaware of numerous tanker sinkings. Earlier, people complained that the government was covering up the extent of the damage at Pearl Harbor, although this was partly to keep it from the Japanese. The Japanese had a good idea of the damage they inflicted, so only Americans were kept ignorant. One reporter reported, "Seven of the two ships sunk at Pearl Harbor have now rejoined the fleet." both the newspapers and radio took favorable news and embellished it, a process not countered by the government.
Joseph Goebbels countered this propaganda to prevent it from influencing Germany, downplaying the defense of
Corrigidor and attacking
Douglas MacArthur as a coward. This was not very successful, as the German people knew it understated the American defense and that MacArthur had left under orders. The
invasion of North Africa produced a morale boost when American forces were bogged down in
New Guinea and the
Guadalcanal Campaign. After Guadalcanal, attention was focused on Europe, where Italy was taken, heavy bombing was hammering Germany, and the Red Army was steadily advancing west.
False optimism Some propaganda was directed to counter people's hopes that it would not be a long, hard war. Despite air victories in Europe,
Dr. Seuss depicted Hitler as a mermaid destroying Allied shipping. The U.S. War Department supported the syndication of
Bill Mauldin's cartoons because Mauldin was making the war appear bitter and onerous, showing that the victory would not be easy. His depiction of U.S. soldiers with disheveled appearances and sad, vacant eyes conveyed the difficulty of the war.
Death and injury '' showed more gruesome battle scenes than previous films Until 1944, the mayhem of war (dead and wounded) was mostly toned down by American propagandists, who followed instructions allowing them to show a
few wounded soldiers in a crowd. Later, more realistic presentations were allowed, partly owing to popular demand. The earlier attitude was supported by the media; for example,
NBC warned that broadcasts were not to be "unduly harrowing." However, the American public wanted more realism on the grounds that they could handle bad news. Roosevelt finally authorized photos of dead soldiers, to keep the public from growing complacent about the toll of war. When
The Battle of San Pietro showed dead GIs wrapped in mattress covers, some officers tried to prevent troopers in training from seeing it, for fear of morale; General Marshall overrode them, to ensure that the soldiers took their training seriously. The OWI emphasized to returning, battle-scarred soldiers that there were places and jobs for them in civilian life. This promise was also featured in romantic stories, where a sweet, gentle heroine would help the veteran adjust to civilian life after his return from the war.
War effort listing ways to assist in the home front Americans were called upon to support the war effort in many ways. Cartoons depicted those who talked about victory but clearly were sitting around waiting for others to ensure it or showed how
red tape was detrimental to the war effort.
Defeatism was attacked, national unity was promoted, and themes of community and sacrifice were emphasized. Fictional characters were sharply divided into selfish villains and heroes who put the needs of others first and learned to identify with the defenders of freedom. Propagandists were instructed to convey the message that the person viewing the propaganda media stood to personally lose if he or she failed to contribute; for example, the appeal for women to contribute to the war effort more closely personalized the soldiers dependent on their work as their sons, brothers and husbands. Considerable complications were caused by censorship and the need to prevent the enemy from learning how much damage they had inflicted. For example, Roosevelt's fireside chat described the damage at Pearl Harbor as "serious" but he could not "give exact damage." Many artists and writers knew that keeping up morale was important, but considerable debate arose over whether to go for light frivolous diversions, or to impress the severity of the war to stir up support. Many stories were set in the frontier era or on family farms, to emphasize traditional virtues such as hard work, innocence, piety, independence and community values.
Civil defense The
Office of Civil Defense was created to inform Americans what to do in case of enemy attack. Within a day of the attack on Pearl Harbor, it produced pamphlets describing what to do in event of an air raid. It also promoted civilian morale, and its emblems helped remind people that the war was continuing.
Conservation to ensure plentiful
military rations could be issued to troops Women's magazines carried numerous tips for housewives on thrifty purchasing, dealing with rationing, and how to cope in a period of limited supplies. A
Victory Cookbook explained the principles of wartime cooking, starting with the need to share food with the fighting men. ''
Ladies' Home Journal'' explained the principles behind sugar rationing, for example, sugarcane could be used to make explosives. The
Office of Price Administration urged Americans in restaurants not to ask for extra butter or a refill on coffee. Radio
soap operas used plots about wartime rationing and condemned the hoarding of goods. Rubber was in particularly short supply, and rubber rationing had the deepest impact on American life. However, the Rubber Survey Report, produced by a committee to investigate the rubber supply, succeeded in changing public opinion by showing the good reasons for rationing. Since gasoline was needed to power planes and military automobiles, Americans were encouraged to conserve. This also helped conserve rubber.
Scrap drives were instituted, and supported by government PR efforts, even before the declaration of war. Such programs as
Salvage for Victory redoubled after the outbreak. Many private individuals organized and publicized some of the most successful scrap drives of the war. President Roosevelt sent a letter to
Boy Scout and
Girl Scout groups, urging the children to support scrap drives. Cartoons ridiculed those who did not collect scrap. Conservation was the largest theme in poster propaganda, accounting for one of every seven posters during the war. Conserving materials, in the kitchen and around the home, was one of five major topics in posters with conservation themes. Other topics included purchasing war bonds, planting victory gardens, the
Office of Price Administration, and rationing. Butcher shops and markets handed out bulletins that urged the conservation of waste fat, which could be brought back to the butcher. Due to these posters and other forms of propaganda, the United States recycled of waste fats, of paper, and of tin. People were told to conserve materials used in clothing, which resulted in clothing becoming smaller and shorter.
Industry Industry was also called on to conserve.
Lucky Strike used the metals in their dyes as a justification for changing their packaging from green to white.
Production Even prior to Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt called on the United States to be the
arsenal of democracy in support of other countries at war with fascism. Industrial and agricultural production was a major focus of poster campaigns. Although the wartime boom meant that people had money to buy things for the first time since the Depression, propaganda emphasized the need to support the war effort, and not spend their money on non-essential items and so divert material from the war effort. The manufacture of the last civilian car was publicized in such venues as
Life. Factories were represented as part of the war effort, and greater worker cooperation with management was urged. Stories symbolized such harmony by featuring romances between a working-class war worker and her employer. Cartoons depicted labor unrest as pleasing Hitler and racial discrimination as preventing the accomplishment of essential work. Fictional treatments of war issues had emphasized the need for workers to combat absenteeism and high turnover. Business entrepreneurs founding new businesses for military production were hailed as exemplars of American economic individualism. After the death of the
Sullivan brothers, their parents and sister made visits to shipyards and armament factories to encourage increased production. Veterans of the
Guadalcanal campaign, America's first major offensive of the war, were also sent to factories to encourage production and discourage absenteeism. Economy and industry were strongly emphasized in United States propaganda posters because of the need for long term production during the war. Factory workers were encouraged to become not just workers, but "Production Soldiers" on the home front. These posters were used to persuade workers to take shorter breaks, work longer hours, and produce as many tools and weapons as possible to increase production for the military. Shipyards hung out banners to encourage
ships for victory. Increased production resulted in more workers moving to factory towns, straining available housing and other amenities. As a result, fictional plots often dealt with the need for homeowners to take in boarders and the necessity for tolerance and unity between residents and newcomers. ====
Victory gardens==== The government encouraged people to plant vegetable gardens to help prevent food shortages. Magazines such as
Saturday Evening Post and
Life printed articles supporting it, while women's magazines included directions for planting. Because planting these gardens was regarded as being patriotic, they were termed
victory gardens, and women were encouraged to can and preserve food they raised from these gardens. During the war years, Americans planted 50 million victory gardens. These produced more vegetables than the total commercial production, and much of it was preserved, following the slogan: "Eat what you can, and can what you can't." The slogan "grow your own, can your own" also encouraged victory gardens to be planted.
War bonds During the war, the sale of war bonds was extensively promoted. Originally termed "Defense Bonds", they were called "war bonds" after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Much of the nation's artistic talent and best advertising techniques were used to encourage people to buy the bonds so as to keep the program voluntary. The War Advertising Board did its best to convince people that buying bonds was a patriotic act, giving buyers a stake in the war. Teachers passed out booklets to children to allow them to save toward a bond by purchasing
war bond stamps.
Marlene Dietrich and many other female movie stars sold many thousands of dollars' worth of war bonds. The
Little Orphan Annie radio show urged its young listeners to sell war stamps and war bonds. Even product ads often contained the slogan, "Buy War Bonds and Stamps!". One hundred and thirty-five billion dollars worth of liberty bonds were sold, most of which were purchased by banks, insurance companies and corporations. Government campaigns targeting women were addressed solely at housewives, perhaps because already employed women could move to the higher-paid "essential" jobs on their own, or perhaps in the belief that housewives would be the primary source of new workers. Propaganda was also directed at husbands, many of whom were unwilling to have their wives working. Fiction also addressed husbands' resistance to their wives working. Key symbolic figures such as "
Rosie the Riveter" and "Mrs. Casey Jones" appeared in posters across the country representing strong women who supported their husbands in the war effort. Due to all the propaganda targeting female wartime duties, the number of women working jumped 15% from 1941 to 1943. Women were the primary figures of the home front, which was a major theme in the poster propaganda media, and, as the war continued, women began appearing more frequently in war posters. At first, they were accompanied by male counterparts, but later women began to appear as the central figure in the posters. In the later 20th century, Rosie the Riveter would be adopted by feminists movements as a movement symbol. Though in the 21st century, some historians viewed the campaign as sexist, claiming that "women were being encouraged to join the workforce, but with the understanding that they would abdicate their posts as soon as the soldiers returned." Two major campaigns were launched: "Women in the War," to recruit for the armed services and war-related jobs; and "Women in Necessary Services," or such jobs as laundry, clerking in grocery and drug stores, and other employment necessary to support the economy. Books and magazines addressed women with the need for their labor. Many works of fiction depicted women working in industries suffering labor shortages, although generally in the more glamorous industries. Major magazines covers, movies, and popular songs all depicted female workers. branch of the
United States Navy Reserve The female war worker was commonly used as a symbol of the home front, perhaps because, unlike a male figure, the question of why she was not serving in the armed forces would not be raised. In many stories, the woman worker appeared as an example to a selfish woman who then reformed and obtained employment. Magazines were urged to carry fiction suitable for wartime. For instance,
True Story toned down its Great Depression hostility to working women and featured war work favorably. At first, it continued sexual themes, such as female war workers being seduced, having affairs with married men, or engaging in casual affairs. The Magazine Bureau objected to this as hindering recruitment, and argued that war workers should not be shown as more prone to dalliance than other women. As a result,
True Story removed such themes from stories featuring female war workers. The ambitious career woman whose life culminated in disaster still appeared, but only when motivated by self-interest; whereas women who worked from patriotic motives were able to maintain their marriages and bear children rather than suffer miscarriages and infertility, as working women invariably suffered in pre-war stories. Stories showed that war work could redeem a woman with a sordid past.
Saturday Evening Post changed its depiction of working women even more: the pre-war destructive career wife vanished entirely, and now employed women could also have happy families. The image of the "glamour girl" was adapted to wartime conditions by depicting women in factory work as attractive and overtly showed that a woman could keep her looks while performing war work. Fictional romances presented war workers as winning the attention of soldiers, in preference to girls who lived for pleasure. The motives for female war workers were often presented as bringing their men home earlier, or making a safer world for their children. Depictions of female war workers often suggested that they were working only for the duration, and planned to return full-time to the home afterward. The appeal for women workers suggested that by performing war work, a woman supported her brother, boyfriend or husband in the armed forces, and hastened the day when he could return home.
In the armed forces Women's groups and organizations were asked to recruit women for the
WACS,
WAVES,
WASPS, and other female branches of the services. The image of the "glamour girl" was applied to women in the military, to reassure women that joining the military did not make them less feminine. In fictional romances, women in uniform won the hearts of soldiers who preferred them to women who did not support the war effort. Black newspapers created the Double V campaign to build black morale and head off radical action. Special posters and pamphlets were prepared for distribution in black neighborhoods. Most black women had been farm laborers or domestics before the war. Despite discrimination and segregated facilities throughout the South, they escaped the cotton patch and took blue-collar jobs in the cities. Working with the federal Fair Employment Practices Committee, the NAACP and CIO unions, these black women fought a "Double V" campaign—against the Axis abroad and against restrictive hiring practices at home. Their efforts redefined citizenship, equating their patriotism with war work, and seeking equal employment opportunities, government entitlements, and better working conditions as conditions appropriate for full citizens. In the South black women worked in segregated jobs; in the West and most of the North they were integrated, but wildcat strikes erupted in Detroit, Baltimore, and Evansville where white migrants from the South refused to work alongside black women.
Home fires directing women to use
V-mail to correspond with their sweethearts and family members in the military|left Most of the entertainment aimed at soldiers was heavy on sentiment and nostalgia, to help sustain morale. In most media, the
girl next door was often used as the symbol of all things American.
Betty Grable characterized it as women giving soldiers something to fight for, but one soldier wrote to her saying that her
pin-up photographs told them, in the midst of fighting, what they were fighting for. Songs on armed forces request programs were not about Rosie the Riveter, but of the girls who were waiting for the soldiers to return. Many such songs were also popular at the home front. Themes of love, loneliness and separation were given more poignancy by the war. German intelligence officers, interrogating American prisoners, mistakenly concluded that the Americans' notions of what they were fighting for were for vague concepts, such as "
Mom's apple pie," and concluded that American servicemen were idealistically soft and could be convinced to desert their allies. Stories for the home front recounted the soldiers' need for their sweethearts and families to remain as they were, because
they were what the soldier were fighting for. As the war ended, real and fictional stories often featured women who left war work to return to their homes and to raise children. Women, particularly wives whose husbands were at war, and children were often portrayed as what was at risk in the war. Home-front posters also invoked an idealized America, as in the series declaring "This is America", portraying "the family is a sacred institution," "where Main Street is bigger than Broadway," and "where a man picks his job". Typically, men were presented as ordinary but women as beautiful and glamorous. Part of this reasoning was that those who were currently fighting the Axis powers would keep war from the United States, if supported. In propaganda media, posters urged support for Great Britain, while the stock character of the "supercilious Englishman" was removed from film. Frank Capra's film
The Battle of Britain (1943), in the
Why We Fight series, depicted the RAF's fight against Germany. Before 7 December 1941 and the Japanese surprise attack on Hawaii, a number of Americans in the north and mid-west United States were either sympathetic to Nazi Germany or simply opposed to another war with Germany because they were of German ancestry. In addition, numerous Irish-Catholic Americans were pro-Nazi because they were openly hostile to the British and British interests. However, the American South was very pro-British at this time, because of the kinship southerners felt for the British. The South was deemed "a total failure" for the non-interventionist
America First Committee for reasons such as traditional southern pride in the military, pro-British sentiment and Anglophilia due to a predominance of British ancestry among most Southerners, political loyalty to the Democratic Party and the role of defense spending in aiding the region's depressed economy.
Pro-Soviet Depicting the
Soviet Union in American propaganda was a delicate issue throughout the war, as the Soviet Union could not possibly be presented as a liberal democracy. However, the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union inspired propaganda in its favor, and Hollywood produced pro-Soviet movies. On the other hand, the 1939
Greta Garbo film
Ninotchka was not re-released as it ridiculed Russians. Frank Capra's
Why We Fight series included
The Battle of Russia. It also omitted all references to the pre-War
Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The second part of the film depicts Germany being drawn too far into Russia; and mostly concentrates on the
siege of Leningrad. Indeed, it unrealistically portrays the great withdrawal into Russian territory as a deliberate ploy of the Soviet government. Stories written in the U.S. or Britain that were critical of the Soviet Union and its policies were often put on hold or not published at all due to the need to maintain friendly relationships with it. One notable example of this was George Orwell's anti-Soviet novel
Animal Farm, which was written during the war but could not be published until afterwards.
Occupied Europe Frank Capra's films
The Nazis Strike and
Divide and Conquer, part of the
Why We Fight series, depicted the conquest of Europe.
Divide and Conquer depicts German conquests in Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. Special attention is given to atrocities, and the French population is depicted as enslaved after the conquest. An American poster depicted Frenchmen with raised hands warning them that German victory meant slavery, starvation and death. The tragedy of
Lidice, shooting of the men and the sending of the women to concentration camps, was also depicted in posters. The
Free French also had posters published, urging the American population to support them. The Belgian Information Center had posters declaring that the people of Belgium still resisted. American propaganda was circulated in occupied countries through the efforts of the
underground movements. Stockpiled books were shipped to France within weeks of
D-Day, in order to counteract Nazi propaganda, particularly anti-American propaganda. This was part of "consolidation propaganda", intended to pacify occupied regions so as to limit the forces needed to occupy; to counter-act Nazi propaganda, particularly about the United States; and to explain what the United States had done during the war.
Pro-Chinese 's fight against Japan in the
Second Sino-Japanese War, the start of which (1937) predated the war against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy Support for the Chinese people was urged in posters. Even prior to the United States' entry into the war, many Chinese figures appeared on the cover of
Time. Japanese propaganda attributed this not to any disgust Americans felt for Japanese atrocities in China, but simply to more effective Chinese propaganda. Frank Capra's
Why We Fight series included
The Battle of China. The film ridiculed the Japanese anti-Western propaganda of "co-prosperity" and "co-existence" by reciting these themes over scenes of Japanese atrocities; it was the most stark, "Good vs Evil" film of the
Why We Fight series.
Pearl Buck, a famous author of books on China, warned Americans to take seriously the appeal of the Japanese
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere to the people of China and other Asian nations. This was due to those people being treated as inferior races, an attitude many in the West had toward Asians.
Elmer Davis of the
Office of War Information also declared that since the Japanese were proclaiming the Pacific conflict as a racial war, the United States could only counter this propaganda by deeds that showed Americans believed in the equality of races. However, this was not officially addressed, and American propaganda did not confront the problem of prejudice based on color.
Pro-Filipino Posters were used to portray and support the
Filipino resistance forces, which, while often listed as one of the greatest organized resistances in history, also exacted a terrible toll on the Filipino people. ==See also==