Expert: Benjamin Davidson - 8/11/2010

Question
I am having difficulty getting started on a history paper.  The class is about
America's home front during WWII.  The instructions seem convoluted to me, and I
am not sure what to write about.  I was hoping you could rephrase the instructions
and help me get start on this paper.  Here are the instructions for the paper:

The last three lessons provide numerous examples of the way in which the war was
"sold" to the America public.  Using examples from the sources accompanying these
and other lessons, explain how, in practical and political terms, the government was
able to justify the use of propaganda in a free society.  Your essay should consider
the kinds of appeals and images employed by the government, but should focus on
the arguments and mechanisms which served to disguise or soften the use of
propaganda.

Answer
Hello Danielle

Presumably you have received paperwork in class with images of posters, adverts, leaflets and so on. Basically they are wanting you to explain what messages are they selling to you. (It's a little hard not knowing what resources they have given you)Are they patriotic, strong, forceful, is the war being sold as a good against evil scenario. In the images are they using patriotic red,white and blue colours. Are they using strong male characters to show how tough Americans are, or maybe using pictures of children to make you sympathetic and protective to the future of US children.

Basically your teachers want to see that you understand how to read source material and you can understand the message it is getting across in word and picture form.

I hope this helps, if you can you could email the images to me and I can give you an outline of what they mean. dragonvalley247@gmail.com

Kind regards
Ben