The army behind the armyPowell, E. Alexander (Edward Alexander)
History
The army behind the army
Powell, E. Alexander (Edward Alexander)
United States. Army; World War, 1914-1918 -- United States
The Propaganda Subsection of Military Intelligence was formed for the
purpose of studying enemy propaganda, to combat it by means of suitable
counter-propaganda, and to take steps for the dissemination in the
enemy armies and enemy countries of positive propaganda of our own.
Though propaganda, as used by the United States, was nothing but the
truth, it had been so abused by the Central Powers as to have become
almost a term of reproach, the American Government steadily opposing
its use—at least under that name—during the earlier months of the war.
German propaganda had, indeed, achieved such an unenviable name that
it was found advisable, in the spring of 1918, to change the name of
this branch to “Psychologic Subsection.” Misleading and frequently
flagrantly untruthful though their propaganda was, the Central Powers
had made use of it with such marked success, particularly in Italy—for
the disaster at Caporetto was primarily due to Austrian propaganda
introduced into the Italian lines—that our government was reluctantly
compelled to recognize its efficacy and to initiate propaganda of its
own, this delicate and highly psychological work being intrusted to a
civilian organization—the Committee on Public Information. Despite the
vast amount of publicity which has been given to the work of Mr. Creel’s
organization, truth compels me to assert that it was very far from
being the success which the public has been led to believe. Memorandums
concerning the foreign situation, together with comments and suggestions,
were sent almost daily by Military Intelligence to the committee, thus
giving the civilian organization the military point of view and bringing
to its attention urgent calls for American propaganda made by its
representatives in many parts of the world. This should have been of
great value to the committee, since through its attachés, agents, and
other sources, Military Intelligence was able to obtain a vast amount of
information about enemy propaganda and morale which would not otherwise
have been accessible to Mr. Creel’s organization. Although the committee
agreed in general with the Intelligence Division as to the scope of our
propaganda, lack of funds and of experienced personnel made it unable to
act, in the majority of cases, on the information thus given. Incredible
as it may seem, in view of the immense importance attached to the use
of propaganda by other nations, it was not until after the Armistice had
been signed that the army was formally authorized to make use of this
potent weapon. I mention this because it illustrates how difficult it is
to obtain a satisfactory liaison between two such bodies as the Military
Intelligence Division and the Committee on Public Information, whose
respective activities were based on entirely dissimilar foundations, and
who carried on their work along entirely different lines. This is not
saying, however, that the officers of the Psychologic Subsection attached
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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