Propaganda holds a place as one of the most influential means of communication between government and society before, during, and after World War II. Although there war proved to increase the overall state of the country, it is important to note some of the negatives and cruelties that resulted from it as well. Women, Japanese people, and Jewish people were repeatedly targeted in WWII propaganda to dehumanize, marginalize, and hypersexualize them, among other things. Women were usually targeted as a potential threat to the country because they were said to be gossips and would thus divulge war information to spies. Japanese people--primarily Japanese Americans--were graphically depicted as animals in propaganda to instill a sense of fear among those who were not Japanese. Additionally, dehumanizing Japanese people in propaganda desensitized Americans so that they would not feel guilty for bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki and for imprisoning Japanese Americans in internment camps. Minorities were lured into joining the war through racial unity depicted in propaganda. Propaganda was also frequently used in Nazi Germany to convince the Aryan nation that Jewish people were an inferior race and that they deserved to be imprisoned and killed. The images and text printed on propaganda during WWII—in the U.S. and Germany—effectively dehumanize Japanese and Jewish people, marginalize women, and create a false sense of social and racial equality between minorities and White people to lure minorities into the war.
WOMEN:
There was a clear contrast and irony between the images of women depicted in propaganda. Prior to the war, propaganda/advertisements portrayed women in extremely stereotypical scenarios. Women were often made to appear inferior to men and the text printed frequently portrayed women as solely obligated to please their husbands (Photo 1.1-1.3). Once the war began and the government began creating war related propaganda targeted at women, the portraits of women began to shift. The government wanted women to join the war both on the home front and in the military. The government needed to convince women…that moving into non-traditional work was not only appealing, but a duty. [1] Propaganda started to feature images of women dressed as soldiers with text urging them to join the war. Although women were featured in positions that were considered manly and should have made them equivalent to men (photo 1.6), society still continued to marginalize women and attempt to keep them at a distance from true gender equality. Many Hollywood type scandals were created once women joined the military, which created a sense that women were not serious about their military positions and solely made for being objectified. The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) were dogged by rumors aimed at the women’s sexuality…John O’Donnell reported Army women were issued contraceptives during boot camp…implying that the women were sexual playthings for military men.[2] These kinds of scandals and rumors added to the patronizing text printed on some images (photo 1.4) so that women, even while they held positions once held by men, constantly had to struggle to be taken into consideration regarding work, laws, and social conduct.
[1] Kathleen Ryan, “Don’t Miss Your Opportunity:’ Patriotism and Propaganda in Second WorldWar recruitment,” Visual Studies Vol 27, no. 3 (2012): 250-251, EBSCOhost, Accessed April 10, 2015.
[2] Ryan, 251,
There was a clear contrast and irony between the images of women depicted in propaganda. Prior to the war, propaganda/advertisements portrayed women in extremely stereotypical scenarios. Women were often made to appear inferior to men and the text printed frequently portrayed women as solely obligated to please their husbands (Photo 1.1-1.3). Once the war began and the government began creating war related propaganda targeted at women, the portraits of women began to shift. The government wanted women to join the war both on the home front and in the military. The government needed to convince women…that moving into non-traditional work was not only appealing, but a duty. [1] Propaganda started to feature images of women dressed as soldiers with text urging them to join the war. Although women were featured in positions that were considered manly and should have made them equivalent to men (photo 1.6), society still continued to marginalize women and attempt to keep them at a distance from true gender equality. Many Hollywood type scandals were created once women joined the military, which created a sense that women were not serious about their military positions and solely made for being objectified. The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAACs) were dogged by rumors aimed at the women’s sexuality…John O’Donnell reported Army women were issued contraceptives during boot camp…implying that the women were sexual playthings for military men.[2] These kinds of scandals and rumors added to the patronizing text printed on some images (photo 1.4) so that women, even while they held positions once held by men, constantly had to struggle to be taken into consideration regarding work, laws, and social conduct.
[1] Kathleen Ryan, “Don’t Miss Your Opportunity:’ Patriotism and Propaganda in Second WorldWar recruitment,” Visual Studies Vol 27, no. 3 (2012): 250-251, EBSCOhost, Accessed April 10, 2015.
[2] Ryan, 251,
JAPANESE PEOPLE:
Japanese people were at a very unfortunate disadvantage throughout WWII. Since the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan is why the United States entered the war, the U.S. government and its citizens distrusted Japanese people all together. However, the U.S.’s distrust and fear of the Japanese stemmed from Japanese brutality. Aside from the bombing at Pearl Harbor, at Bataan, in the Philippines, the Japanese forced 78,000 American and Filipino troops to lay down their arms—the largest surrender in American Military history.[1] Because the U.S. government viewed Japan as a threat, all Japanese people were considered to be a threat. As a result, the government created propaganda featuring crude images of Hirohito and Axis leaders as animals and murders (photo 2.1,2,4,6,8). The propaganda featured phrases like “Blast the Jap,” which makes no distinction about exactly which Japanese person it is referring to (photo 2.9). Dehumanizing images and phrases such as these helped gain U.S. citizens’ support of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Additionally, uses of these types of propaganda helped U.S. citizens become desensitized to Japanese American lives, so the vast majority of the country supported imprisoning Japanese Americans in internment camps in order to feel safe.
[1] Eric Foner, “Fighting for the Four Freedoms,” Give Me Liberty! An American History Volume 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014: 858. Accessed April 10, 2015, Print.
Japanese people were at a very unfortunate disadvantage throughout WWII. Since the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan is why the United States entered the war, the U.S. government and its citizens distrusted Japanese people all together. However, the U.S.’s distrust and fear of the Japanese stemmed from Japanese brutality. Aside from the bombing at Pearl Harbor, at Bataan, in the Philippines, the Japanese forced 78,000 American and Filipino troops to lay down their arms—the largest surrender in American Military history.[1] Because the U.S. government viewed Japan as a threat, all Japanese people were considered to be a threat. As a result, the government created propaganda featuring crude images of Hirohito and Axis leaders as animals and murders (photo 2.1,2,4,6,8). The propaganda featured phrases like “Blast the Jap,” which makes no distinction about exactly which Japanese person it is referring to (photo 2.9). Dehumanizing images and phrases such as these helped gain U.S. citizens’ support of the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Additionally, uses of these types of propaganda helped U.S. citizens become desensitized to Japanese American lives, so the vast majority of the country supported imprisoning Japanese Americans in internment camps in order to feel safe.
[1] Eric Foner, “Fighting for the Four Freedoms,” Give Me Liberty! An American History Volume 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014: 858. Accessed April 10, 2015, Print.
MINORITIES:
Much like women, minorities were often excluded from what was considered the American Dream. Legislation was passed that “enlisted [blacks], breaking down a long entrenched system of racial segregation in the workplace [and]…government order instructed factory owners not to discriminate against blacks,” but society didn’t just go from segregated to unified like the images printed on war recruitment propaganda (photo 3.1).[1] Black men were only enlisted once the U.S. government realized they needed to deploy more troops. “When WWII began, the air force and marines had no black members,” so it is evident that the U.S. military forces were not initially interested in desegregating its fleet.[2] Propaganda aimed at black men featured them dressed in military garb with a prideful expression on their faces (photo 3.2-3.3). These types of images were aimed at getting black men to be excited about joining the war through the prospect of racial unity on the home front, but “Washington remained a rigidly segregated city, and the Red Cross refused to mix blood from blacks and whites in its blood banks” and in 1941 and 1942, while the war was taking place, several black people throughout the U.S. were lynched.[3] Ultimately, the harmony depicted in black war recruitment propaganda was not wholly true.
[1] Todd Olson, “Loose Lips Sink Ships,” Scholastic Update 130.10 (Feb. 23, 1998): 15, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed 10 Apr. 2015, Web.
[2] Foner, 879.
[3] Foner, 879.
Much like women, minorities were often excluded from what was considered the American Dream. Legislation was passed that “enlisted [blacks], breaking down a long entrenched system of racial segregation in the workplace [and]…government order instructed factory owners not to discriminate against blacks,” but society didn’t just go from segregated to unified like the images printed on war recruitment propaganda (photo 3.1).[1] Black men were only enlisted once the U.S. government realized they needed to deploy more troops. “When WWII began, the air force and marines had no black members,” so it is evident that the U.S. military forces were not initially interested in desegregating its fleet.[2] Propaganda aimed at black men featured them dressed in military garb with a prideful expression on their faces (photo 3.2-3.3). These types of images were aimed at getting black men to be excited about joining the war through the prospect of racial unity on the home front, but “Washington remained a rigidly segregated city, and the Red Cross refused to mix blood from blacks and whites in its blood banks” and in 1941 and 1942, while the war was taking place, several black people throughout the U.S. were lynched.[3] Ultimately, the harmony depicted in black war recruitment propaganda was not wholly true.
[1] Todd Olson, “Loose Lips Sink Ships,” Scholastic Update 130.10 (Feb. 23, 1998): 15, Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed 10 Apr. 2015, Web.
[2] Foner, 879.
[3] Foner, 879.
JEWISH PEOPLE IN GERMANY:
While Japanese people were being imprisoned in the United States, Jewish people were being imprisoned and murdered by the masses in Nazi Germany. Similar to the United States, Nazi Germany used propaganda as a means to communicate and persuade German citizens. The primary goal of Nazi propaganda was to persuade Aryans—Hitler’s “ideal” person—that they were superior and that everyone else, especially Jewish people, should be killed. After his armies had penetrated Eastern Europe in 1941, Hitler embarked on the ‘final solution’ [in which] Slavs, gypsies, homosexuals, and Jews [were imprisoned and murdered on a mass scale].[1] Propaganda often featured Jewish people appearing cowardly and weak, not unlike a mouse cowering away in fear (photo 4.1). These types of images convinced nearly an entire nation that they were superior and that committing genocide was perfectly fine. By 1945, 6 million Jewish men, women, and children had died in Nazi death camps.[2]
[1] Foner, 860.
[2] Foner, 861.
While Japanese people were being imprisoned in the United States, Jewish people were being imprisoned and murdered by the masses in Nazi Germany. Similar to the United States, Nazi Germany used propaganda as a means to communicate and persuade German citizens. The primary goal of Nazi propaganda was to persuade Aryans—Hitler’s “ideal” person—that they were superior and that everyone else, especially Jewish people, should be killed. After his armies had penetrated Eastern Europe in 1941, Hitler embarked on the ‘final solution’ [in which] Slavs, gypsies, homosexuals, and Jews [were imprisoned and murdered on a mass scale].[1] Propaganda often featured Jewish people appearing cowardly and weak, not unlike a mouse cowering away in fear (photo 4.1). These types of images convinced nearly an entire nation that they were superior and that committing genocide was perfectly fine. By 1945, 6 million Jewish men, women, and children had died in Nazi death camps.[2]
[1] Foner, 860.
[2] Foner, 861.
Bibliography
Foner, Eric. “Fighting for the Four Freedoms.” Give Me Liberty! An American History Volume 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014. Print.
Mintz, Steven, and Sara McNeil. "Overview of World War II." Digital History. January 1, 2013. Accessed April 10, 2015. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=15&smtID=1.
Olson, Todd. “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” Scholastic Update 130, no. 10 (Feb. 23, 1998): 15. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed April 10, 2015.
Renteln, Alison Dundes. “A Psychohistorical Analysis of the Japanese American Internment.” Human Rights Quarterly Vol. 17, no. 4 (Nov. 1995): 618-648. JSTOR. Accessed April 10, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/762484
Ryan, Kathleen M. “Don’t Miss Your Opportunity:’ Patriotism and Propaganda in Second World War recruitment.” Visual Studies 27, no. 3 (Nov. 2012): 248-261. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost Accessed April 10, 2015.
Foner, Eric. “Fighting for the Four Freedoms.” Give Me Liberty! An American History Volume 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2014. Print.
Mintz, Steven, and Sara McNeil. "Overview of World War II." Digital History. January 1, 2013. Accessed April 10, 2015. http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/era.cfm?eraID=15&smtID=1.
Olson, Todd. “Loose Lips Sink Ships.” Scholastic Update 130, no. 10 (Feb. 23, 1998): 15. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost. Accessed April 10, 2015.
Renteln, Alison Dundes. “A Psychohistorical Analysis of the Japanese American Internment.” Human Rights Quarterly Vol. 17, no. 4 (Nov. 1995): 618-648. JSTOR. Accessed April 10, 2015. http://www.jstor.org/stable/762484
Ryan, Kathleen M. “Don’t Miss Your Opportunity:’ Patriotism and Propaganda in Second World War recruitment.” Visual Studies 27, no. 3 (Nov. 2012): 248-261. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost Accessed April 10, 2015.