Office of War Information (OWI)



Office of War Information (OWI)

President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Office of War Information (OWI) in June 1942 to manage the dissemination of government information during World War II. Using publications, radio, and films to provide information about the nation's war effort and to give favorable portrayals of the American way of life, the OWI also carried out some censorship functions. Elmer Davis, a respected CBS radio broadcaster, headed the agency.

The establishment of the OWI culminated administration efforts beginning in 1939 to organize the collection and dissemination of government information. As with other aspects of war mobilization, these efforts were marked by early confusion and bureaucratic conflict before a satisfactory structure was devised. Roosevelt wanted an agency that would both provide accurate information and serve government propaganda purposes at home and abroad—and without the troubling excesses of the Committee on Public Information during World War I. Stressing the principles of the Atlantic Charter and the Four Freedoms, the OWI sought above all to convey positive images of the United States and its war aims and to inspire confidence in an Allied victory. Although the goals of truth and propaganda sometimes worked at cross purposes, and although OWI had both shortcomings and critics, the agency generally was successful in meeting its objectives.

The OWI included a Domestic Branch and an Overseas Branch. The Domestic Branch of the OWI was established to provide Americans information on the war and the war effort, to motivate them to greater efforts, and to convince them of the need for a leading American role in the world. It published pamphlets such as Divide and Conquer that illuminated the threat of fascism. It also published Negroes and the War, which in favorably depicting the circumstances and contributions of African Americans provoked criticism from white southern conservatives and African Americans alike for presenting what they saw, for different reasons, as a misleading portrayal of actual conditions.

During World War II, OWI and other U.S. government agencies produced thousands of posters, billboards, radio spots, and newspaper ads to mobilize citizens in support of the war effort. Negative images of the enemy were often used to promote patriotism in the basest of ways, a not so pleasant part of the World War II home front. There was a coordinator of government films during 1941–1942, who worked with the Hollywood community in preparing movies that sold the war effort on the domestic front. There was a Division of Public Inquiries and a Division of Press Intelligence that issued summaries and digests of radio and press comments. Less well-known was the crucial role OWI played in mobilizing black support and interpreting U.S. race relations to an international audience through its publications and broadcasts.

Working under the premise that citizens of a democracy distrust propaganda, Congress limited OWI to nondomestic activities but it still did an effective job of supporting the war effort. Also, President Roosevelt, who was assistant secretary of the navy in World War I, was determined that he was not going to give Elmer Davis the power and authority that George Creel and his Committee on Public Information wielded during the earlier war.

An important part of OWI's work were the posters that very effectively communicated the message: "Someone Talked!" (1942), Norman Rockwell's "Four Freedoms" (1943), "This is the Enemy" (1943), "Bits of Careless Talk . . . " by Stevan Dohanos (1943), and "Save Waste Fats for Explosives . . . " by H. Koerner (1943), along with the classic "Loose Lips Sink Ships." The poster campaign, inexpensive, colorful, and immediate, was the ideal medium for delivering messages about an American's duties on the home front during World War II; they were seen in schools, in workplaces, and in other public spaces. The posters touched on all aspects of wartime life, from the factory, where workers were instructed to take shorter cigarette breaks and focus on increased production ("KILLING Time Is KILLING Men"), to the home, where conserving scarce resources was essential ("We'll have lots to eat this winter, won't we, Mother? Grow your own") was essential, to the farm, where eggs and meat were wartime weapons in their own right ("Our Allies Need Eggs" and "Grow It Yourself—Plan a Farm Garden Now"). Its publication, Victory magazine, 1943–1946, similar in format to Life magazine, was translated into at least six languages.

The Overseas Branch produced materials for foreign audiences that illustrated the American contributions to the war, the accomplishments of democracy, and the virtues of America's people, institutions, and war aims. It published a magazine for overseas distribution titled Victory. This publication met opposition from its first issue, when a prominent article featured a large photograph of Roosevelt and an article portraying him and the New Deal in very flattering terms. The magazine also contrasted the New Deal with such "reactionaries" as former Republican president Herbert C. Hoover. Such OWI material, some of it distributed to GIs as well, persuaded many in the Republican Party that OWI was part of FDR's fourth-term campaign effort for the election of 1944. It led to considerable opposition to some OWI activities in Congress.

In addition to its informational and propaganda duties, the OWI included an Office of Censorship, under Associated Press news editor Byron Price, which monitored incoming and outgoing international communications, including films, that did not fall under armed forces censorship. And the OWI's Bureau of Motion Pictures not only produced and released its own films but also worked successfully to persuade Hollywood to portray acceptable themes in its wartime movies.

As victory over the Axis seemed increasingly likely, and the OWI thus less necessary, and as the agency provoked opposition among conservatives and Republicans, Congress cut off most Domestic Branch funding in 1943, sharply curtailing its activities, and continued to scrutinize the Overseas Branch. President Harry S. Truman dissolved the OWI at the end of the war in August 1945.

  Jeffries, John W. "Office of War Information (OWI)." In Jeffries, John W., and Gary B. Nash, eds. Encyclopedia of American History: The Great Depression and World War II, 1929 to 1945, Revised Edition (Volume VIII). New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2010. American History Online. Facts On File, Inc. ?

ItemID=WE52&iPin=EAHVIII225&SingleRecord=True (accessed December 14, 2010).

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Manning, Martin. "Office of War Information: World War II." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2010.

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