page_title: American propaganda during World War II
section_title: Movies
hierarchical_section_title: American propaganda during World War II / Media / Movies
caption_attribution_description: English: From "War Comes to America" - the dire consequences for the United States of an Axis victory in Eurasia.
context_page_description: During active American involvement in World War II, propaganda was used to increase support for the war and commitment to an Allied victory. Using a vast array of media, propagandists instigated hatred for the enemy and support for America's allies, urged greater public effort for war production and victory gardens, persuaded people to save some of their material so that more material could be used for the war effort, and sold war bonds. Patriotism became the central theme of advertising throughout the war, as large scale campaigns were launched to sell war bonds, promote efficiency in factories, reduce ugly rumors, and maintain civilian morale. The war consolidated the advertising industry's role in American society, deflecting earlier criticism.
context_section_description: Hollywood movie studios, obviously sympathetic to the Allied cause, soon adapted standard plots and serials to feature Nazis in place of the usual gangster villains while the Japanese were depicted as being bestial, incapable of reason or human qualities. Although Hollywood lost access to most foreign markets during the war, it was now able to use Germans, Italians and Japanese as villains without diplomatic protests or boycotts. Many actors such as Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, Martin Kosleck, Philip Ahn and Sen Yung specialized in playing Axis spies, traitors and soldiers. Irreplaceable film workers received draft deferments to allow them to continue producing pro-Allied films.
  In the early '40s, as war was starting to gain importance in Europe, the goal of Hollywood studios was still to entertain. Many productions were musicals, comedies, melodramas or westerns. Major studios kept their neutrality and showed on screen the same isolationist sentiment as their audience. After noticing President Franklin D. Roosevelt's concern about US foreign policy, fascism began to be reported on screen by Hollywood. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the studios were fully supportive of the Allied cause and its demands. Patriotic propaganda was seen as profitable by Hollywood, and it helped to transform the social and political stances of the country, while serving as an instrument of national policy.
  Most of movies produced had a background of war, even if their story was a complete invention. However, there were pictures that were made especially in tie with a past event, or even a current event of that period of time that made the release of the film synchronized with the happening in real life. For example, the Academy Award winner for Best Picture Casablanca, was a movie released in the context of American attitudes toward Vichy and Free French Forces. This picture was considered as anti-Vichy, but there was a strong debate about the fact that this position was representative or not of the American government policy. This movie was one of the most important productions of Hollywood during wartime, and also very representative of the studio's role and position during World War II.
  The war happened in the moment of an important national conflict: racial segregation. White America was united in its cause, but in Black America there was opposition. While Roosevelt was describing the Allied War goals as democratic, Walter Francis White, the executive secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), said that colored people had to "fight for the right to fight". Many blacks were weighing their loyalty to the country against loyalty to their race. To address the identity problem, the Office of War Information (that had control and influence on the contents and subjects of American motion pictures.) decided to collaborate with Black leaders to try to improve Hollywood's portrayal of colored people and obtain their support to the Allied cause, but it was a failure.
  The earliest Hollywood production to satirize any of the Axis governments was You Nazty Spy!, a Three Stooges short released on January 19, 1940, satirizing Hitler (Moe Howard as "Moe Hailstone"), Goering (Curly Howard as "Field Marshal Gallstone") and Goebbels (Larry Fine as "Larry Pebble"), nearly two years before the attack on Pearl Harbor.
  The 1941 Nazi attack on the Soviet Union resulted in pro-Russian movies.  The war also produced an interest in newsreels and documentaries, which had been unable to compete against entertainment films prior to the war.  America's allies were no longer allowed to be depicted negatively in any way.
  At the request of General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, Frank Capra created a documentary series that was used as orientation films for new recruits.  Capra designed the series to illustrate the enormous danger of Axis conquest and the corresponding justness of the Allies.  This Why We Fight series documented the war in seven segments:
  Prelude to War, the rise of Fascism;
  Th
caption: From "War Comes To America", in the Why We Fight series - the dire consequences for the US of an Axis victory in Eurasia
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