Radio Goes to War: The Cultural Politics of Propaganda during World War II Book

Radio was one of the main ways that Americans learned about what was going on in the war, there being no television and no Internet at the time. In the early 1940's, it was the number one medium in the country.


The war caused a major increase in the number of news and commentary shows on the radio.


The American propaganda agency was the Committee on Public Information (CPI). That propaganda had been used before is pointed out in relation the New Deal, to get people to support that. FDR's Fireside Chats are considered by the author to also be propaganda tools. As the war neared, the networks began to broadcast more and more special government programs. They were produced by the Office of education in the Department of the Interior.


There's an interesting discussion of the difference between newspapers and radio at the time, with newspapers writing in a formal style at a level above the educational level of many people at the time, while radio used a simpler approach to reach people.

One of the biggest pre-war issues that the radio covered was the issue of isolationism, which radio gradually supporting the non-isolationist stance, and this was done with government sanction and support.


The American public at the time was wary of propaganda.


In the Spring of 1942, there was among the public 'a resurgence of disunity and isolationist sentiments.' 15% felt they would consider a peace offer by Hitler. There also was a censorship of anything that pointed out how savage the war was, thus making it a 'sanitized' war. Radio began to change the way it covered things, describing 'the nature of the enemy,' and making the enemy objects of hatred, particularly the Japanese. The American feelings towards the average Germans were not bad, but towards the average Japanese was a different story entirely. Thus, the American public did not equate Germans with the German government, but did equate Japanese with the Japanese government.

By 1943 there was some growing opposition to the propaganda being used by the OWI (Office of War Information.)


There's an entire chapter on foreign-language media in the country. The government decided to use them for propaganda purposes rather than try to close them all down. This was tricky, though. At the time, it was estimated that up to around 15% of German and Italian Americans were in favor of the Facist governments of Germany and Italy.


Radio's importance and influence grow during the war.


A really fascinating statistics is that, at the time, the average American spent four hours a day listening to radio.


There are also chapters on advertising and comedians on the radio, along with a chapter on soap operas.


This is a very complete and very interesting book.