WWII+propaganda

RIL: Dr. Seuss illustrated this cartoon. During World War Two, he was hired by the military to create propaganda such as this and he also continued to work for the newspaper //PM.// When the war started, Dr. Seuss began to draw cartoons which directly supported the war as did this one, so, during this time; Dr. Seuss supported the American war effort. //PM// also supported the war effort as they published his cartoons among others during this time. This sketch was drawn during America’s time in the war. Because of this, it was meant to make people support the war the United States was already fighting so they would be doing so for their own country’s sake not anyone else’s. Readers would originally encounter this cartoon in New York City in the publication //PM.// This sketch addresses World War Two, Hitler, the Japanese, and what average Americans are doing to help their country during the war. During World War Two, propaganda was prevalent so this cartoon was just one of the many propaganda pieces during this time. The two men on the clearly represented Hitler and the Japanese, and the man looking at the billboard was meant to represent the reader to convince them to support the war effort. This cartoon was created for the newspaper //PM// which was available to the average Americans so it was made to be simple enough for them to understand and convincing enough for them to help the war effort. The intended audience was the average American, and any American, which could be why it was written with a very clear message. Those who had not helped the war effort much would have paid particular attention to this cartoon as it was meant to affect them and it could have influenced them to support the war effort. The Japanese-Americans may have been insulted that Dr. Seuss portrayed all Japanese as the villains, but most Americans would have not been offended, and they instead could feel perhaps guilt or fear and this guilt or fear could have persuaded them to help the military war effort. This cartoon was created as propaganda for helping the military during the war so it was extremely one sided and even dramatic. It was produced at this time because the United States was fighting in the war. The political and social need addressed was that one should support the military to support their country during a time of war. The argument conveyed by this cartoon was that Americans should support their country by aiding the war effort. The values of security and loyalty and patriotism were supported and used to persuade readers in this cartoon. The main point of the sketch was that Americans had to support the war to protect America from Hitler and Japan. This material was important in that it exemplified World War Two propaganda. The political and social implications of this cartoon were that Americans supported the war and were encouraged to do so. This cartoon could have convinced people to support the war effort.

MRL -



The "Tokio Kid" series of posters and magazine images was commissioned by the Douglas Aircraft Company during World War II and subsidized by the War Production Board. This particular poster serves as a physical example of the anti-Japanese sentiment in the US while also serving as propaganda. The "Tokio Kid" posters were specifically designed to encourage Americans to curb their wastefulness and instill negative feelings against the Japanese. This contrasts the propaganda directed toward the European Theater, however, since anti-Axis posters usually demonized only Hitler and Mussolini, rather than the German and Italian people. The posters dehumanized the Japanese people and each one portrays a Japanese person thanking American workers for breaking tools, working slowly, or wasting materials and time. The aversion toward the Japanese was eventually focused toward Japanese-Americans as well. Many Americans, even government officials, feared that Japanese-Americans may be Japanese spies, or are serving as a sleeper cell which would activate after the Japanese launched an attack on the West coast of the United States. The hostility toward Japanese-Americans culminated in one of Franklin Roosevelt's few political blunders: the signing of Executive Order 9066. Although some Americans felt that even more drastic measures should be taken, most historians would agree that Execuitve Order 9066 should have never come to fruition. E.O. 9066 is regarded as a total failure since its purpose -- to prevent anti-American actions by Japanese-Americans -- was irrelevent since Japan did not have the ability to attack the United States mainland. The internment of the Japanese-Americans was also incredibly ironic since many of the interned Japanese families had family members fighting in the War for the protection of the United States and democracy.



AMB-- This propaganda cartoon was created by Theodore Geisel, more commonly known as Dr. Seuss. Seuss was a noted pacifist in the years leading up to WWII, but supported FDR’s war-leaning policies because he believed that they were for the good of the country. It was published in New York’s PM Magazine, a magazine with liberal leanings. It was published in 1942 to encourage people to buy war bonds to help stop Nazi Germany. It was originally encountered in PM Magazine. This cartoon, like other such propaganda, encouraged the American public that the US was doing the right thing by going to war, and that their help was needed in the war effort. It also displays the desire of America to stop Germany from growing any stronger, and to limit its power. By the time this drawing was published, Hitler had taken over a large portion of Western Europe, and it was a growing fear that if the US did not stop him, he would try to take over America. The caged animal represents a contained Germany, controlled by the US (represented by the bird wearing the Uncle Sam hat). This insinuates that by contributing monetarily to the war effort, the US could stop German advances and regain control.

This material was directed at an American populace divided over the prospect of getting involved in another European war. It portrayed the war effort in a whimsical manner with the use of fictional animals, which would have helped make war seem less threatening, and in turn, make people more willing to buy war bonds. While some intransigent isolationists still would have viewed this cartoon with scorn, it would have helped to ease the worries of those who were unsure about whether or not the US should be involved in WWII.

This piece of propaganda was created to encourage the purchase of war bonds to raise money for the military. This makes the drawing one-sided, because it is trying to convince people to support a specific government decision (going to war with Europe). It does not address an economic need on the part of the producer, but it does address the government’s need for increased finances to go to war. It would have sent the message to the viewer that more money was necessary to restrict Germany’s power.

This material is important because it depicts encouragement to support the war effort through buying war bonds, which was a major part of American society during WWII. It would have had the effect of leading more people to buying more bonds to protect the interests of the United States. CJD-

This 1942 propaganda poster was one of many that depicted the Japanese as crafty and prepared to strike at any misstep by the United States. Directed at Texaco oil company workers, its goal was to prevent laziness, and incite Americans to do their jobs efficiently, and with a sense of risk. Should one man shirk his duties for a day, the Japanese army was sure to take advantage of the situation and weaken the nation. The Japanese man in the poster wears a soldier’s uniform, and looks to be of high rank. This element of the drawing was likely intended to create some fear in the average Texaco worker, and make him or her feel like their country is at great risk. Stylistically, the art uses a popular image of a Japanese man, with exaggerated aspects of his facial figure, especially in his menacing eyes and large teeth and mouth. The latter was frequently used in propaganda to make Japan seem like a nation hungry for blood and violence. Although it is an entirely inaccurate and offensive rendering of the Japanese, this image was extremely convincing to Americans at the time and certainly defined the Land of the Rising Sun as an enemy. Most of the propaganda leading up to the United States’ entry of World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor revolved around demanding hard work and dedication from citizens for the Allied cause in Europe. Following December 7, 1941, Japan became a more personal adversary of the United States, and posters shifted the focus from helping countries like Great Britain to defending America’s western border from the vicious Japanese. Because it was created in 1942, this propaganda stirred feelings of retribution in Americans, who desired to avenge the thousands of deaths at Pearl Harbor. It was likely effective in getting workers to toil harder because they did not want themselves, their families, or their nation to suffer.

AJJ-

This illustration was created by Weimer Pursell and was produced and printed by the United States government as a part of the propaganda effort. Pursell is an American man who urged Americans to conserve gas because it was needed so badly during the war. This drawing was created in 1943 when the United States was in the middle of the war. During this time, Americans were assigned gas rations due to the need to conserve it in order to both provide the military and United States citizens enough gas. This poster urges people to ride with others in order to save gas and help the war effort. Americans were extremely against fascism and implying that people who didn’t save gas were supporting Hitler was a sure to have an impression on their views on gas conservation. This drawing was created for average Americans who supported the war. Most who encountered this material probably supported in due to the extremely high amount of patriotism that Americans displayed. People who were against the war were not likely to react well to this cartoon. This cartoon was produced in order to get Americans to conserve gas. The United States needed to conserve gas and in order to do this, Pursell and the U.S. Government wanted people to ride together. Pursell implies that people who ride alone are supporting the fascists in order to evoke a reaction from the audience and get people to ride together. This material is important because it shows the anti-fascist sentiment that existed in the United States during World War Two. This illustration probably got Americans to ride together more often.

J.R.C.- This material was created for the US Department of Agriculture. This material was produced during the escalation of World War II, in an attempt to promote the preservation of valuable natural resources. This poster portrayed both the Germans and Japanese as demonic figures, waiting for America to become wasteful. Clearly depicting a forest fire, this material was produced to promote the unnecessary destruction of valued natural resources like forest fires. Much speculation of secret weapons filled the air around the time of World War II and this material served to portray American carelessness as one of these secret weapons. The two figures in this poster are none other than Adolf Hitler and Fumimaro Konoe. The depiction of Konoe is fairly exaggerated to meet many of the racial stereotypes of the war. Many of these stereotypes convinced Americans to despise the Japanese. A large, menacing grin, an abnormally sized nose, and a different facial structure, were enough reasons for society to view this race as an enemy. This hostility carried over much of society, ultimately forcing many people to conserve and prevent the destruction of natural resources. This material was originally encountered as a poster on various establishments in America.

LM - This poster was sponsored by the Office of War Information just after the Pearl Harbor attack; this image was part of a nationwide campaign to inspire citizens to financially bolster the US war effort through war bonds. The Office of War Information created and circulated myriad propoganda pieces - such as this poster - which were vital to the solidification of domestic support for US war efforts abroad. War bonds played a particularly pivotal role in supplying the government with much needed war time resources. As war bonds allowed the government to fund war production and military payrolls, bonds were vigorously promoted by the Treasury and Defense Departments. Funding was necessary to repel the Nazis, and as such wartime agancies went to great lengths to promote US efforts. The Departments employed various tactics - including fear tactics - to promote support for war bonds. This poster promotes war bonds by associating the purchase directly with the preservation of America's next generation. Mothers and fathers were particularly vulnerable to this poster's message - that their children were in danger of Nazi terror if the US lost. Unchecked, Nazis threatened to push Germany's reach into the US; to Americans, Nazi victory loomed above the next gemeration. This image empoys children's innocence to powerfully convince citizens - particularly parnets - that war bonds will help protect the innocent. It stirs citizens' emotional defensiveness towards not just their children, but also an enduring American culture.

Contouring a swastika, the shadow refers to Nazism and fascism. It looms over the children, making Nazis harm urgently threatening and corespondingly the need to sell war bonds urgently necessary. Nazi ideas are depicted as the shadow to remind citizens how darkening US enemies are. Humbleness prevades the children who look to the shadow with great consternation. People respond to urgency of threats, particularly, as in this case, when the threats impugn the innocent. The flag clasped by one child broadens the children's representative funciton beyond mere children to US culture and patriotism in general. Thus, the poster speaks to preservation of US culture and populace.

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