Ronald Schaffer's America In The Great War
Ronald Schaffer’s America in the Great War gives new insights into World War I.
The book gave historical accounts about the war that other books negated to included.
The thesis that Schaffer tries to prove that the Great War was the start of the American
welfare state and the beginning of “big” government. America in the Great War was
structured in chronological order of the war, from America’s mobilization to the actual
fighting. What the book did not include is a detail account of the fighting. This was the
biggest draw back in a otherwise well thought book.
The book begins with the mobilization of the United State’s industry and man
power. The first two chapters dealt with how the Federal Government shaped the view of
the war in America’s minds. The methods that the Federal Government used varied from
propaganda to coercion. The point behind the Federal Government’s involvement in
propaganda was to rally the country to fight the war. The first step in shaping the
people’s mind was to get the labor and industry to work together. The Federal
Government established committees and teams to persuade the minds of the United States.
One of these committees were the Committee on Public Information established in April
13 1917 by order on the President of the United States. The committee was led by
George Creel, former social reformer. He had great power in what the United States saw
and heard for the next few years. His first order was to manage American minds without
directly using propaganda and censorship. Other nations fighting the war practiced wide
spread censorship of all war related material. Creel realized that this would not work in
the United States, instead he flooded Americans with news. The news released to the
public was in such large numbers and in such great detail that Americans could not
understand all of it. The Committee on Public Information also produced films. The films
were designed to rally Americans behind the war effort. The films were nothing else but
propaganda, but Creel designed the films to not come across as propaganda. The
committee was very successful in hiding the fact that they were engaging in propaganda.
Many Americans believed in the films and supported the war e...
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...overnment helped veterans in such a large scale. The treatment of the shell
shock veterans would eventually lead to one of the largest welfare programs, the Veterans
administration.
In addition Schaffer changed my views about the American home front. I was not
aware about the extent of propaganda involved shaping the thinking in the United States.
I did not know that the Federal Government suppressed dissent to the level that it
employed. Such use of propaganda and suppression in the United States would be
impossible and such a government using that would be called a Fascist government.
In conclusion, I liked the book due the fact that Schaffer proved his thesis, the
Great War gave rise to the American welfare state. I believe that Schaffer proved his
thesis with clear and concrete evidence. I enjoyed how Schaffer shed new light on the
Great War. Many historical accounts only deal with the actual fighting and not the behind
the scenes action that Schaffer writes about. Schaffer’s account about women and blacks
during the war gave new levels. History has forgotten the contributions that these groups
gave to the war.
In the book, America’s Great War: World War I and the American Experience, Robert H. Zieger discusses the events between 1914 through 1920 forever defined the United States in the Twentieth Century. When conflict broke out in Europe in 1914, the President, Woodrow Wilson, along with the American people wished to remain neutral. In the beginning of the Twentieth Century United States politics was still based on the “isolationism” ideals of the previous century. The United States did not wish to be involved in European politics or world matters. The U.S. goal was to expand trade and commerce throughout the world and protect the borders of North America.
Michael C. C. Adams' book, The Best War Ever: America and World War II, attempts to dispel the numerous misconceptions of the Second World War. As the title suggests, Americans came out of the war with a positive view of the preceding five turbulent years. This myth was born from several factors. Due to the overseas setting of both theaters of the war, intense government propaganda, Hollywood's glamorization, and widespread economic prosperity, Americans were largely sheltered form the brutal truth of World War II. Even to this day, the generation of World War II is viewed as being superior in morality and unity. The popular illusion held that 'there were no ethnic or gender problems, families were happy and united, and children worked hard in school and read a great number of books.' (115)
When the United States entered WWI in 1917, Congress passed a law called the Espionage Act. The law stated that during wartime obstructing the draft and trying to make soldiers disloyal or disobedient were crimes against the United States (Schenck v. United States). Almost 2,000 people broke this law; they were accused of violating this law and were put on trial. Charles Schenck was one of them; he was against the war, and was the general secretary of the Socialist Party of America. He believed that the war had been caused by and would benefit only the rich, while causing suffering and death for the thousands of poor and working-class soldiers who would do the actual fighting in Europe. He mailed thousands of pamphlets to men who had been drafted into the armed forces. The government looked at this as a threat to the country and also to the people. These pa...
Schenck v. United States; Baer v. United States. Essential Documents in American History. 1919. Essential Documents.
Source: “Wheeler book, Chapter 5”. I chose a few images that would support my statements as well as give the reader some images to improve the image of propaganda during World War 1.
In conclusion, even though the Nazi political party was known for their constant dependence on advertising, throughout the World War II and all history this king of propaganda has been no stranger to any type of government. Its power should never be underestimated since it has the ability to be used as a weapon of political warfare and determine the magnitude of the sovereignty of a particular government, in other words, it can make or break a social movement. Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_propaganda http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_propaganda_during_World_War_II http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_effective_was_Government_propaganda_in_World_War_1 http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/voices/testimonies/life/backgd/before.html http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/propaganda_in_nazi_germany.htm http://www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/goeb36.htm http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/statements.htm http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/statements.htm https://www.msu.edu/navarro6/srop.html The Hunger Games Left to Tell Enciclopedia Salvat
Lowi, Theodore J, et al. American Government Power & Purpose. 12th Ed. New York: W. W.
Introductory Paragraph: Propaganda is a tool of influence that Adolph Hitler used to abuse the German population by brainwashing them and completely deteriorating an entire race. How does one person get the beliefs of an entire country? Hitler put Joseph Goebbels in charge of the propaganda movement. Goebbels controlled every element of propaganda, there were many varieties of Nazi Propaganda. Propaganda was also being used as a tool to gain the support of the German population for the war, and supporting their government. The Jew’s were the targeted race and were completely pulverized by the Nazi’s. Hitler not only tried to destroy an entire race, he gained complete control of an entire country.
During World War I, propaganda was widespread in most countries. Propaganda took on many forms and the primary function was to reinforce to the citizens of a nation that war was intrinsically heroic, and conversely to destroy the morale of the enemy.
When tens of thousands of books have been written about a four year or so period of history, it makes it a lot easier to derive some sort of unbiased narrative through the analysis of the existing texts in comparison to one another. The Civil War stood on the brink of a time between “attaque a outrance” and Napoleonic war methods and the movement towards total war and tactics applicable during the 20th century World Wars. Its ability to be labeled both pre-modern and modern comes from the Civil War’s transitional ideologies and location in history marked by both social and economic revolutions. Paddy Griffith and Edward Hagerman offer varied accounts of war that either characte...
...e American Dream. Larry Ceplair and Englund stated in the book The Inquistion in Hollywood, “The destruction of the motion picture Left not only transformed the political atmosphere in Hollywood, but also adversely affected the kind of product which the studios turned out. “ In the early 20th century Hollywood reframed from producing politically controversial films in fear of becoming a target of McCarthy or the HUAC. Anti-communism influences the films produced, films portrayed communism as evil and immoral. The films during the cold war certainly portrayed the political storm between the progressive left and the conservative right. Films such as Ninotchka in 1939, showed anti-communism, guilty of Treason 1949, showed an attack against communism, exploiting the evils of communism was shown in Docudrama. The Red Menace in 1949 showed the immense threat f communism.
Identify the different conflict episodes that exist in this case? Who was in conflict with whom? 3 points
Before the Second World War began Hollywood’s purpose lied within entertainment for the American people. After the war started, the main focus shifted to wartime propaganda. Film was used to display the war in a way that did not show its true colors—including the censorship of soldier causalities and other negative connotations that are a simple fact of war. There was even a time in which some actors became better known to America than politians. Through films, Hollywood began to make a statement of their anti-Nazi beliefs. They began to make motion pictures for American recruitment into the Army as well as many that supported the war effort, and intended to make other Americans more aware of the war’s effect on the United States, and how people can get involved. Many European countries banned these Hollywood films, as they began to affect not only America but many other countries that were involved in the war as well.
Fight to end censorship treaded on steadily, until 1971, when it was found out that even the government couldn’t be fully trusted. In 1971, the Pentagon Affair arose. It revealed many abuses in security during the Vietnam War. It thus fell upon them to prove that classified information is essential military, domestic...
Thesis: Propaganda was a tool that leaders used to get people involved in wars of the past.