A still image from a World War II newsreel that informed Americans what was going on with the armed forces around the world.
A newsreel used by the United States in order to spread information. This particular clip informs the public on what is happening in Alaska and what the men are facing.
As previously stated, Americans were going to see movies and films more and more during this time, so the use of newsreels as propaganda was huge. Before these films a newsreel would play and this is typically how many Americans got their news on what was going on at home as well as what was happening in the war.
The main goal of the newsreel in World War II was to get information and news, true or not quite true, out to as many people as possible. Due to the fact that it often took weeks or months for the military to approve these newsreels, the information the public would be getting was often times very late and out of date. Unfortunately, due to a nitrate fire in 1978 at The United States National Archives, we lost many of the newsreels that came out of this time period, but those that did survive were iconic.
A news promo on avenging Pearl Harbor
The most memorable of these were those centered around Pearl Harbor, especially this one featured a year following the attack. In the newsreel, the narrator talks about the emotions and rage that many felt immediately after the attack and paints a picture of the men marching off to war. He highlights on the fact that despite many Americans buying war bonds and doing other things to support the war effort, they can always do more. He goes from calling them war bonds to vengeance bonds to stir those in attendance to go out and buy more bonds by playing on their emotions. There were thousands more like this that were made in this time, and all played a huge impact in getting more and more Americans into the war, one way or another.
