Propaganda Shapes Public Opinion

Preparing America to fight in the Second World War required more than simply mobilizing supplies and industry. Successfully enlisting the American populace in the war effort also required considerable attention to popular opinion: using various propaganda tools, the Roosevelt administration attempted to demonstrate the necessity of the sacrifices it called Americans to make. Hundreds of posters and advertisements spread the message that it was critical to fight the war to defend basic American freedoms. Such messages were especially critical after the United States allied itself with the Soviet Union: for years, American citizens had been taught that the Soviet communist system was antithetical to the American system of democratic capitalism. Inundated for years with messages that the Soviet system was godless and completely opposed to human freedom, many Americans found themselves confused by the necessity of allying themselves with the Soviet regime in a war they understood as waged for freedom.