Government Propaganda, 1940s Style

We rightfully complain that FOX is nothing more than the propaganda wing of the Bush wing of the Republican Party. The Bushies did a great job manipulating the news media for their aims, especially leading up to the Iraq war in 2002 and early 2003.

But that is nothing compared to the craziness of the past. World War I marked the beginning of modern American propaganda with Wilson establishing the Committee on Public Information, headed by George Creel. While the CPI died after the armistice, the basic idea remained alive.

I was reminded of this today while listening to some Duke Ellington. During World War II, Ellington did a bunch of benefit shows to raise money for war bonds. So lots of the songs have little speeches at the beginning to get the mostly African-American audience to buy bonds. Most of these intros are pretty standard stuff. But some of them are off the charts crazy. Take the song "Moon Mist." The exhortation for this number is about how much Franklin Roosevelt cares about black people. The, clearly white, narrator goes so far as to compare FDR to Lincoln in his concern, which is absurd. While the New Deal did help out African-Americans and started the migration of blacks to the Democratic Party, the idea that FDR cared specifically about blacks is just wrong. Laughable even. He did almost nothing for them that he didn't have to. He refused to support anti-lynching legislation. He saw blacks as potential political allies in northern cities but didn't want to alienate the South. While that might have been a smart political move, it was also an easy one for him because he didn't care about black people.

The real shocker though was hearing a government sponsored broadcast talking about the sitting president like he was a deity, making openly false historical analogies about him, and connecting fighting the war with loving the president. I respect FDR to no end, but one can see why many Americans found him threatening. Certainly the propaganda was a lot more blatant in 1943 than it is today.