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| Image courtesy of Missouri History Museum |
Just seven days after declaring America's entry into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson established the Committee on Public Information. This new independent agency's goal was to distribute information about the war and inspire the public to take action both at home and abroad. Under the influence of the chairman, Missourian George Creel, the Committee produced the most extensive propaganda campaign the world had ever seen.
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| Image courtesy of Library of Congress |
George Creel was born in Lafayette County, Missouri in 1876. He began his career as a newspaper reporter for the
Kansas City World in 1899. Just five years later, Creel began publishing his own newspaper - the
Kansas City Independent. As his career progressed, Creel became a nationally known muck-raking investigative reporter. In 1917, Creel was chosen by Woodrow Wilson to be chairman of the Committee on Public Information.
During its 28 month lifespan, the Committee on Public Information distributed information through every medium possible by both creating and censoring. It had twenty bureaus and divsions, and spanned nine countries. Essayists, academics, artists, journalists, businessmen, and celebrities came together to contribute to the Committee's campaign. Additionally, 75,000 public speakers (nicknamed “Four Minute Men” for their four minute speeches) volunteered for the Committee to teach the public about the War. They covered topics such as the draft, rationing, Liberty Loans, victory gardens, and challenges of the war effort.
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| Image courtesy of Library of Congress |
The Committee on Public Information recruited the film industry to its cause. A film division of the Committee was formed in 1917, composed of Hollywood moguls such as D.W. Griffiths and Jesse Lasky who had agreed to volunteer their resources. With the help of the film industry and the Army Signal Corps cameramen, the Committee on Public Information produced and distributed short films and commercial feature films throughout the course of the war. They were immensely successful in both informing the public and raising funds. According to George Creel, “through the medium of the motion picture, America’s war progress, as well as the meanings and purposes of democracy, were carried to every community in the United States and to every corner of the world.
Pershing’s Crusaders,
America’s Answer, and
Under Four Flags were types of feature films by which we drove home America’s resources and determinations, while other pictures, showing our social and industrial life, made our free institutions vivid to foreign peoples.”
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| Image courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri |
Some of the most vivid and lasting artifacts of the Committee on Public Information are its propaganda posters. George Creel pulled together a group of well-known American artists, such as James Montgomery Flagg, Joseph Pennell, and N.C. Wyeth. By utilizing artistic talent and design trends, Creel's artists were able to create hundreds of posters that emboldened and educated onlookers. Today many of these iconic posters can be viewed online through the
Library of Congress’s extensive World War I poster collection.
The State Historical Society of Missouri, the
Missouri History Museum, the
National WWI Museum, the
University of Missouri Special Collections and Rare Books, and
Truman State University Special Collections have collections containing the original propaganda posters issued in Missouri by the Committee on Public Information.
The Committee on Public Information was disbanded in 1919, but George Creel continued to serve the public. He was the Chairman for the National Advisory Board of the Works Progress Administration. He also ran, unsuccessfully, as the Democratic nominee for governor of California in 1934. Throughout his life, Creel wrote several books, publishing 15 before his death in 1953. One of his books,
How We Advertised America, tells the history of Committee on Public Information. It has been digitized by the Internet Archive and is
available online.
References
“George Creel.”
Encyclopædia Britannica.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2012. Online. 04 Oct. 2012.
“Poster Art of World War I.”
American Experience: Woodrow Wilson. KCET for American Experience and PBS Online. 04 Oct. 2012.
Duffy, Michael. “Who's Who - George Creel.”
First World War.com: a Multimedia History of World War I. Online. 04 Oct 2012.
Manchel, Frank.
Film Study: An Analytical Bibliography. Volume 1. Cranbury, New Jersey: Associated University Presses, 1990.
