Why Did King Woodrow Murwell Use Of Propaganda

During the 1910s, the world became engulfed in the First World War. Although, the United States were uninvolved with the war until 1917 when President Woodrow Wilson officially announced the United States as part of the Allied Powers, to defeat the German Empire and their allies. At the time, nine percent of the United States population was of German descent (Immigrant Entrepreneurship). Thus it became natural for U.S. civilians to suspect German-Americans as spies for their enemies. Illustrator Raymond Crosby created a propaganda poster to capitalize on the people's suspicions. The narrative of the poster forewarned the American public of German spies already living within their communities. In order to manipulate the fear of the American

people into action, Crosby uses an image, headline, and copy to hypostatize Germans [and German - Americans alike] as dangerous enemies to the United States.
Within Crosby’s propaganda poster, he depicts German Kaiser Wilhelm as a spider in order to convince his audience that the German people can not be trusted.

Drawn as a menacing human head attached to the legs of a spider, Kaiser Wilhelm’s grim appearance in the poster serves to induce fear in the American people, specifically towards Germans. In addition, Wilhelm’s inclusion in the poster serves to influence the American people’s perspective on people born with German descent, that they are menacing and should be feared. The fearful nature towards German - Americans would stem from the fact that the menacing image of Kaiser Wilhelm represents Germany as a whole, therefore the American people would want to fear those related to Germany, as they might be a spy for the enemy. By having the American people associate German spies with fear, Crosby can effectively influence the people’s ideology on all German - Americans, that Americans should constantly be afraid and looking out for German - Americans since they are dangerous enemies that cannot be

trusted.
The heading of Crosby’s poster alerts the American people that there is a possibility for German spies living amongst them and that one must avoid helping the enemy. The most prominent feature of the propaganda poster is the large bolded text reading, “DON’T TALK SPIES LISTENING”. Similar to the spider drawing, the purpose of the heading is to make Americans fearful of spies, but also to be cautious that spies could always be nearby, listening and obtaining valuable information. To further push the fear of the Americans, Crosby enlarged the heading in order to affect the audience’s emotions and actions. By highlighting the importance of “Not talking,” a civilian reading the poster would constantly be in fear of any neighboring German - American due to the belief that a German spy is always nearby. Also, the demanding language of the heading causes civilians to avoid speaking out, for fear of causing the United States lose the war. The heading of the propaganda poster attempts to inform the American people that the enemy is all around them and should always be fearful of disclosing information to the public at any time.
In addition to a heading, Crosby includes advertisement copy in his propaganda poster in order to describe how the enemies of the U.S.

should be feared due to the fact that they are prepared to take advantage of any information gained from American citizens. The copy of the poster introduces a scenario in which it states: “The Web Is Spun For You With Invisible Threads”, which describes the high possibility that the German spies are waiting for the chance to obtain and utilize any information they receive. This idea Crosby presents further antagonizes the German - Americans as invisible threats to the U.S. since in addition to not knowing whether or not spies live amongst them, American citizens are not aware of what type information the German spies could exploit. Although, the copy includes a solution to the scenario in which not speaking will render the German spies unable to give Germany advantages in the war. By including a resolution to the American people, Crosby enables the propaganda poster to persuade the American people that although German spies are menacing due to their ability to utilize any information to destroy the United States, the threat of the German spies can be suppressed through

silence.
Throughout Crosby’s propaganda poster, he depicts particularly German - Americans as menacing enemies to the United States. Crosby describes how there are spies everywhere in the U.S. utilizing any information they gain, in order to make the American people have fear for any potential spy that might live in their community. Although not all German - American in the U.S. became a spy for Germany, Crosby represented all Germans as fear - inducing spies in hopes of persuading the American people not to risk helping the enemy side win the war. Crosby’s propaganda poster shows the power mass media had to influence a person’s perspective on a situation, especially during a time of crisis.