Propaganda Through Film

The development of the motion picture industry in the early 1900's opened a new avenue for the government to interact with the general population and to get it's point across. As an example the Committee on Public Information was established in 1917 by President Woodrow Wilson. The Committe had the express purpose of swaying public opinion to that of the governments, namely President Wilson's push for war.  The Committee was headed by George Creel who used film as one of the main ways he made the case for war. Creel created videos vilifying the Germans, describing how they desired to conquer all of Europe, and after Europe the US.  Once the US was fully committed to the war the Committee made films describing the exploits of the American troops, for the most part showing only the positive things. Although the Committee was disbanded at the end of the war, the effects can be seen even to today, as every President since has went on public record on either film or tv making the case for every military action the US has been in since.