Fear Of Anti War Propaganda example essay topic

No Tolerance Owen Klein 11th "Once lead this country into war, and they " ll forget there ever was such a thing as intolerance". -Woodrow Wilson As the Progressive era subsided in America, a new wave of wartime efforts took its place as World War I raged on in Europe, devastating the lives of countless human beings and ending the lives of millions. Many did not want to go to war, for they thought things like, "Rich man's war. Poor man's fight" (WBA, vol. 2,249).

The Wilson administration knew that the country had to stand united if they were going to engage in the war on the side of the allies. Yet there stood much opposition to fighting. Groups took different stands against different aspects of war, therefore dividing the people into many clusters, each representing their own opinions. Some of these groups included: isolationists, pacifists, Wobblies, socialists, and agrarian radicals (WBA, vol. 2,246). More opposition for the war was based on ethnicity.

One-ninth of every American had first or second generation ties to one of the Central Powers (WBA, vol. 2,246). People refused to fight family, and this kept the American populous very spiteful against the Wilson administration. Fearing corruption and a growing surge of resentment against the federal government, the Wilson administration sought to create a campaign to make a consensus of its policies (WBA, vol. 2,247). For if these policies were not established, Wilson feared that this overlapping resentment and dissent left the nation in a place where they could not win or even aid in the war. Afterwards, the administration set up the Committee of Public Information in 1917, headed by a Progressive journalist George Creel.

The Committee of Public Information, or CPI, was formed to "disseminate war news and progovernment propaganda", in other words to censor the anti-war propaganda floating around, and to make pro-war propaganda themselves (WBA, vol. 2,247). Creel recruited many journalists and popular writers from the Progressive era to help him in this censorship mission. Using many popular advertising techniques, they wrote millions of pamphlets, put ads in magazines, made films, and gave speeches in order to win over the crowd. Although he desired to enter the war, Wilson's sole purpose was not to gain power, but to preserve worldwide peace.

He sought to, "make the world safe for democracy" (WBA, vol. 2,248). After the Bolsheviks' takeover in Russia, Wilson released his next plan in 1918, the Fourteen Points, to alter what Russia had done to his pro-war campaign. In his fourteen points, Wilson called for "free trade, freedom of seas, reduction of armaments, arbitration of international disputes, and adjustment of European borders along ethic lines" (WBA, vol. 2,248). Out of these points, Wilson formulated a proposal for an organization of international national nations whose soul purpose would be to maintain worldwide peace, later named the League of Nations. After war was declared in 1918, the majority of the American response was very favorable towards the federal government. Groups and industry owners rallied behind war efforts, backed troops at home, manufactured and sent supplies overseas, and basically raised national morale of Americans.

Yet many still opposed the war. To protect its citizens, the federal government passed two new laws, in 1917 and 1918; which were the Espionage Act and the Sedition Act. These acts gave the federal government much power to suppress dissent within the country. Any language used in a disloyal America was now considered a crime against the country. With the new acts in hand, the government went to work censoring everything they found not o be in the countries or the wars best interests. Magazines, newspapers, books, everything was toned down, for fear of anti-war propaganda.

Harsh standards were imposed on periodical manufacturers, making production more costly and sometimes putting companies out of business. Yet the government felt the need for even more "security". Out of this overwhelming sense of paranoia, police bureaucracy increased dramatically, including the creation of the Justice Department's Bureau of Investigation, predecessor to the FBI. As nationalism rose, so did prejudice.

German-Americans were harshly discriminated, and killed in a few instances. Out of this paranoia grew a string of organizations. The populace believed these organizations would protect them from the evils in their country. The most popular of these groups was called the American Protective League, with 250,000 members. Always in search of anti-war attitudes, the Wilson administration found its next prey in the workforce. "To influence working-class opinion further, the government launched an unprecedented campaign to manipulate the political direction of the union movement, aiding those segments of organized labor that supported the war while harassing or destroying those that opposed it".

Samuel Gompers formed the American Alliance of Labor to police this new campaign. An example of the use of this campaign is the federal government's military takeover of the Industrial Workers of the World, or IWW, that was composed mainly by a group named the Wobblies. Since the IWW had much influence on workers of the nation, the federal government decided to hit them right in the center, up north where their logging trade thrived. The government replaced striking workers with military loggers, and completely took over the business to show dissidents that they were for real. Around the next bend for the government were the immigrants.

These newcomers were seen as disloyal to America and more loyal to their countries of origin, and that of course, scared Americans. An "Americanization" plan was launched to attempt to counter whatever disloyalty immigrants had brought with them, tying them closer to America. Business owners took a liking to Americanization because it split menial workers with those that were skilled. Such employers as Henry Ford used Americanization, he believed that immigrants had to, "be taught American ways, the English, and the right way to live". Many new jobs began to open for immigrants because there was a wartime labor shortage.

With the war creating many prejudiced attitudes worldwide, immigrants caught the brunt of it in America. Much immigration was brought to a halt in the US, as there was a decline in nativism and an increase in racism. These changes were soon to have the ripple effect on the country in the coming decade. By the end of Wilson's administration, the protestors had been gagged, the strikers hushed, and the rioters thrown into jail. Wilson had succeeded, they forgot there ever was such a thing as intolerance.