Analysis of a Newsmap Propaganda Poster: Industrial Edition 1942 - 1946
by
Nolan
Newsmaps were a form of propaganda issued by the United States (U.S.) War Department during the time frame of April 1942 to March 1946[1]. In this paper the Industrial edition of Newsmaps are analyzed which were displayed weekly in “war production facilities around the country”[2]. There were many types of Newsmaps ranging from the Industrial edition to “Newsmap Supplement for Special Training Units”[3].
The poster begins with a large red title, “NEWSMAP”, as well as a small line depicting how many weeks the U.S. and its allies have been at war. This subliminal message places emphasis on the fact that the U.S. is not fighting alone but with other nations as well. This is a recurring theme throughout the poster. Beneath the title is the largest map describing the Saar offensive in France. The accompanying text to the Saar offensive describes in greater depth what the map is depicting. It also mentions the value of attacking the Saar valley and how it contains munitions factories and coal plants. Adjacent to the title is a smaller map of the Leyte campaign[4]. 4 paragraphs cover events in the Pacific with an emphasis on Leyte. The final map at the very bottom of the first poster displayed the “Japanese Threat”[5]. It depicts the “Jap-Controlled territory” in the then occupied China.
On the back page of the poster there are many pictures of American Medical Services in WWII. The 20 images show wounded soldiers, medical tents and the medics themselves rescuing and operating on patients[6]. A lengthy segment describing the images begins with “On the job protecting the health and lives of 8,000,000 American soldier on duty all over the world stands the Army Medical Department”. Each image has its own caption explaining what the soldiers, medics, patients, etc are accomplishing.
The first page and second page of the Newsmap poster contain different types of propaganda although both drive the user to the same conclusion. The first page displays one of the most obvious which is name calling through the use of “Japs” as a derogatory term for the Japanese people. The author constructed the poster to create the sensation that many nations were at war with millions of men. This was not just an American fight but a world fight that is important to win. An example is at the very top of the first page with “274th week of war - 156th week of US participation”[7]. This is in some way a form of bandwagon propaganda where the reader would feel inspired to join in the fight simply because everyone else around them is already fighting. The last form of propaganda on the poster is that of patriotism. The motivation from seeing the success of Americans, French and British in the war is one of the strongest points on the poster. One such example is about the Leyte campaign where 15,584 casualties were reported on the American side while the poster mentions none of them glorifying the American and allied victories[8]. This specialized picking and choosing of what to report on with the successful Leyte campaign would have instilled pride for America in the hearts of Americans.
On the second page the propaganda is far more discrete and there is one main form of propaganda. Emotional appeal is at use where the images of men who are injured or dying will cause the reader to be sick at what the Germans and Japanese have done to fellow American men. This form was not seen on the first page and could be viewed as a second chance to persuade people if the first page did not work.
The language, on the other hand, is very similar on both pages where stating it as concisely as possible puts the reader under the illusion that there is no propaganda and the poster simply contains the facts. All of the important language is contained in the paragraphs that add to the maps or pictures. The maps however add a visual reference to help the reader. The images could also have been used as a way to quickly analyze what was happening in the war. For this reason the images are also purposely misleading by showing simpler maps that easily demonstrated the Allies gains on the represented fronts. The last page shows images and text although a substantially greater number of images allowing for faster overall comprehension than the rest of the poster by sight without having to read the entire poster. It also helps that people have a “natural tendency to believe whatever is evident in an image”[9].
The poster mentions many fronts and subjects during WWII. The first front in that of the Pacific particularly that of Leyte. As mentioned, the poster does not talk about the 15,000 casualties at the island or any casualties in the Pacific theater at all. The only mention of U.S. struggle is connected to “wet weather” and not thousands of men killed[10]. In fact during that campaign, the Japanese lost an estimated 49,000 men none of which are mentioned in the poster. This can be attributed to the fact that the information might not have been publicly available during the creation of the poster.
On the second page of the poster it depicts the nurses and their patients that they took care of. “So effective are the methods of aiding the wounded that, on average, only a matter of minutes pass, between the time a man is wounded and the time a medical soldier gives him first aid” describes every one of the millions of men who died received aid immediately. This unfortunately is not true although many men did receive attention very quickly.
There is little reliable information online about the effectiveness of Newsmaps and how they impacted the American public, factory workers and soldiers. From observing the posters it does seem that they were well worth the effort. As a reader it does motivate me and it is not hard to see how successful these posters were during and after WWII. One of the strongest examples is the opening line of the first paragraph, “Allied Armies from the West Estuary to Switzerland were engaged in a massive frontal assault on the Reich as the Winter offencive ground ahead against the stiffest kind of enemy opposition”. The sentence begins with the recurring theme of the importance of coalition warfare and continues by glorifying the size of the frontal assault and how the allies were still making progress even against the “stiffest kind of enemy opposition”. With persistence and weekly reading most readers would be ready to fight or help their country in any way.
Sources
Footnotes
[1] “World War Two Newsmaps” https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/NMAP/ (accessed 10/28/2018).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Newsmap Industrial Edition, 274th week of war, 156th week of U.S. participation (11 December 1941) 1.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid., 2.
[7] Ibid., 1.
[8] “Leyte” National Archives, October 3, 2003 https://history.army.mil/brochures/leyte/leyte.htm (accessed October 28, 2018)
[9] “Photography in Propaganda”, Dickins University, https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/766/collinsfysaward (accessed October 28, 2018).
[10] Newsmap Industrial Edition, 1.
The poster begins with a large red title, “NEWSMAP”, as well as a small line depicting how many weeks the U.S. and its allies have been at war. This subliminal message places emphasis on the fact that the U.S. is not fighting alone but with other nations as well. This is a recurring theme throughout the poster. Beneath the title is the largest map describing the Saar offensive in France. The accompanying text to the Saar offensive describes in greater depth what the map is depicting. It also mentions the value of attacking the Saar valley and how it contains munitions factories and coal plants. Adjacent to the title is a smaller map of the Leyte campaign[4]. 4 paragraphs cover events in the Pacific with an emphasis on Leyte. The final map at the very bottom of the first poster displayed the “Japanese Threat”[5]. It depicts the “Jap-Controlled territory” in the then occupied China.
On the back page of the poster there are many pictures of American Medical Services in WWII. The 20 images show wounded soldiers, medical tents and the medics themselves rescuing and operating on patients[6]. A lengthy segment describing the images begins with “On the job protecting the health and lives of 8,000,000 American soldier on duty all over the world stands the Army Medical Department”. Each image has its own caption explaining what the soldiers, medics, patients, etc are accomplishing.
The first page and second page of the Newsmap poster contain different types of propaganda although both drive the user to the same conclusion. The first page displays one of the most obvious which is name calling through the use of “Japs” as a derogatory term for the Japanese people. The author constructed the poster to create the sensation that many nations were at war with millions of men. This was not just an American fight but a world fight that is important to win. An example is at the very top of the first page with “274th week of war - 156th week of US participation”[7]. This is in some way a form of bandwagon propaganda where the reader would feel inspired to join in the fight simply because everyone else around them is already fighting. The last form of propaganda on the poster is that of patriotism. The motivation from seeing the success of Americans, French and British in the war is one of the strongest points on the poster. One such example is about the Leyte campaign where 15,584 casualties were reported on the American side while the poster mentions none of them glorifying the American and allied victories[8]. This specialized picking and choosing of what to report on with the successful Leyte campaign would have instilled pride for America in the hearts of Americans.
On the second page the propaganda is far more discrete and there is one main form of propaganda. Emotional appeal is at use where the images of men who are injured or dying will cause the reader to be sick at what the Germans and Japanese have done to fellow American men. This form was not seen on the first page and could be viewed as a second chance to persuade people if the first page did not work.
The language, on the other hand, is very similar on both pages where stating it as concisely as possible puts the reader under the illusion that there is no propaganda and the poster simply contains the facts. All of the important language is contained in the paragraphs that add to the maps or pictures. The maps however add a visual reference to help the reader. The images could also have been used as a way to quickly analyze what was happening in the war. For this reason the images are also purposely misleading by showing simpler maps that easily demonstrated the Allies gains on the represented fronts. The last page shows images and text although a substantially greater number of images allowing for faster overall comprehension than the rest of the poster by sight without having to read the entire poster. It also helps that people have a “natural tendency to believe whatever is evident in an image”[9].
The poster mentions many fronts and subjects during WWII. The first front in that of the Pacific particularly that of Leyte. As mentioned, the poster does not talk about the 15,000 casualties at the island or any casualties in the Pacific theater at all. The only mention of U.S. struggle is connected to “wet weather” and not thousands of men killed[10]. In fact during that campaign, the Japanese lost an estimated 49,000 men none of which are mentioned in the poster. This can be attributed to the fact that the information might not have been publicly available during the creation of the poster.
On the second page of the poster it depicts the nurses and their patients that they took care of. “So effective are the methods of aiding the wounded that, on average, only a matter of minutes pass, between the time a man is wounded and the time a medical soldier gives him first aid” describes every one of the millions of men who died received aid immediately. This unfortunately is not true although many men did receive attention very quickly.
There is little reliable information online about the effectiveness of Newsmaps and how they impacted the American public, factory workers and soldiers. From observing the posters it does seem that they were well worth the effort. As a reader it does motivate me and it is not hard to see how successful these posters were during and after WWII. One of the strongest examples is the opening line of the first paragraph, “Allied Armies from the West Estuary to Switzerland were engaged in a massive frontal assault on the Reich as the Winter offencive ground ahead against the stiffest kind of enemy opposition”. The sentence begins with the recurring theme of the importance of coalition warfare and continues by glorifying the size of the frontal assault and how the allies were still making progress even against the “stiffest kind of enemy opposition”. With persistence and weekly reading most readers would be ready to fight or help their country in any way.
Sources
- “Leyte” National Archives, October 3, 2003 https://history.army.mil/brochures/leyte/leyte.htm (accessed October 28, 2018)
- Newsmap Industrial Edition, 274th week of war, 156th week of U.S. participation (11 December 1941) 1.
- “Photography in Propaganda”, Dickins University, https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/766/collinsfysaward (accessed October 28, 2018).
- “World War Two Newsmaps” https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/NMAP/ (accessed 10/28/2018).
Footnotes
[1] “World War Two Newsmaps” https://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/NMAP/ (accessed 10/28/2018).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Newsmap Industrial Edition, 274th week of war, 156th week of U.S. participation (11 December 1941) 1.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Ibid., 2.
[7] Ibid., 1.
[8] “Leyte” National Archives, October 3, 2003 https://history.army.mil/brochures/leyte/leyte.htm (accessed October 28, 2018)
[9] “Photography in Propaganda”, Dickins University, https://www.dickinson.edu/download/downloads/id/766/collinsfysaward (accessed October 28, 2018).
[10] Newsmap Industrial Edition, 1.