DOCUMENT PROJECT 20

The Committee on Public Information and Wartime Propaganda

Woodrow Wilson won reelection in 1916 under the campaign slogan “He kept us out of the war.” He recognized that bringing the United States into the war would be unpopular and sought ways to convince Americans to support U.S. involvement in World War I in Europe. By establishing the Committee on Public Information (CPI) under the leadership of journalist George Creel in 1917, shortly after the United States entered the war, Wilson hoped to launch a propaganda campaign that could capture the hearts and minds of unsure Americans. Creel embraced the cause. “We fought prejudice, indifference, and disaffection at home,” he wrote in 1920, “and we fought ignorance and falsehood abroad.” In fighting this battle “for the verdict of mankind,” Creel’s CPI favored emotional appeals over nuanced analysis. It used patriotic lecturers, created cartoons that demonized the Germans, targeted appeals toward laborers and teachers, and published pamphlets that encouraged women to do their part in the war effort. The government even commissioned films to increase American morale. “There was no medium of appeal that we did not employ,” Creel recalled.

The CPI’s mobilization was impressive. Creel boasted that his largest corps of speakers, the Four-Minute Men, delivered over 750,000 speeches during the war. The CPI compiled more than 1,400 drawings to support U.S. involvement in the war. The following documents provide examples of this government effort to gain support for American involvement in World War I, as well as Creel’s answer to critics who characterized the CPI as a censorship committee. As you examine these sources, consider the various persuasive strategies and rhetorical techniques employed to drum up support for the war effort.