GI Propaganda Pamphlets

August 5, 2005 12:41 PM

Pamphlets for the G.I.s during WWII. There was a belief by many in the War Department that social discontent among enlisted personnel would foster problems at home after the war was over. A series of pamphlets was commissioned to help get their minds right. Titles included: What Is Propaganda?, How Far Should Government Control Radio?, Do You Want Your Wife to Work After the War?, and Our Russian Ally.
posted by caddis (10 comments total)

Do Women Have a Special Problem?

Only sexism.

This is totally funny and puke-worthy at the same time!
posted by agregoli at 1:07 PM on August 5, 2005

It was sending the women into the factories to work during the war that marked the beginning of Discontent and the Female Disorders. They began to feel independent, met drinking pals at work, and the huge cyle of divorce set in. Women back then did not say I have to have Space; I have to find myself; I need Alone time....now I see my wife two times a year and, since she had died her hair, I am not even sure it is my wife, exceptg that she tells me she needs money for more grad school.
posted by Postroad at 1:17 PM on August 5, 2005

Good find, caddis.

The [NAB] Code gives special suggestions regarding straight news programs. They are to be given accurately. They are not to be biased through the selection of items or colored by the personal opinions of anyone engaged in the broadcast.

How quaint.

On first glance (I haven't had time to read the accompanying analysis yet), some of the text wasn't as eye-roll worthy as I'd thought it might be. The stuff about women, "democratic propaganda" -- all of it interesting. And unfortunately, in some instances, as hot-button as ever.

I wonder if the typos are reprinted from the original pamphlets, or just careless lack of proofreading.
posted by NorthernLite at 1:26 PM on August 5, 2005

Great post, caddis, there's some fascinating stuff here!
posted by filmgoerjuan at 1:29 PM on August 5, 2005

Considering the age and the audience, some of these (especially "our Soviet Ally", "The Balkans" and "What shall be done about Japan/Italy/Germany"), are practically as good as a college-level course. The Canada one is cute too. Heck, the vast majority of people today could learn a thing or two from some of these.

Fantastic post.
posted by loquax at 1:32 PM on August 5, 2005

Women back then did not say I have to have Space; I have to find myself; I need Alone time....

Yeah, it's really sad that women weren't often allowed to put their own needs first (the way men have always been allowed to do) back then.
posted by agregoli at 1:53 PM on August 5, 2005

The best of the web indeed. Thanks caddis.
posted by Uncle Ira at 2:13 PM on August 5, 2005

Do You Want Your Wife to Work After the War?
Subtitled: you do if you want to eat & have a home.

Amazing how some things have changed for the better, and others for worse.
posted by Smedleyman at 2:23 PM on August 5, 2005

It was sending the women into the factories to work during the war that marked the beginning of Discontent and the Female Disorders.

dude, that is so untrue. women have been having some issues with being treated as lesser humans for a lot longer than that.

Circa 1900-1920, the New Woman was all about getting some freaking space.
posted by RedEmma at 2:26 PM on August 5, 2005

Agregoli - by your contempt for these people, it seems you are under the impression that your own attitudes to gender interaction are "divinely ordained and perfect". This is a common error, to believe we live at the end of history, and has been believed as long as the concept of history has existed. In truth, assuming you were raised in a "western" nation, your attitudes derive from the outcome of exactly that conflict, and the attitudes of the generation after yours, to gender as well as everything else, will be derived from the outcome of our conflicts.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 3:50 PM on August 5, 2005