Four-Minute
Men
Visuals
weren’t the only approach the government used to sell Liberty Bonds. They had
salesmen in the flesh, as well.
The so-called “Four-Minute Men” were a masterful collaboration between
the Committee of Public Information and local volunteer groups.
 |
| A poster promoting the Four Minute Men. Courtesy of Library of Congress. |
Initially
proposed to Committee of Public Information (CPI) director George Creel by a stranger named Donald Ryerson, the
idea was initially to have a respected member of the community speak during the
four minutes it took to change silent movie reels at a movie theater. During
that time, a slide explaining that the man would be speaking for four minutes
was projected on the screen, and declared approved by the CPI.[1]
While
the organization was not exclusively aimed to sell bonds, it did spend almost
four of the program’s 17 active months during the war doing precisely that.[2]
Like the posters advertising the Liberty Loans, the Four-Minute Men were
generally positive and fact-based in the beginning, focusing on the impressive
achievements of the American people and the needs of their allies. As time went
on though, instructions from the CPI became more colored with negative
depictions of Germans, and atrocity stories were greatly encouraged.[3]
The
Four-Minute Men were well received, boasting over 75,000 members by the end of
the war. Their popularity in movie theaters led to an expansion of the
organization to college campuses, fraternal lodges, Native American
reservations, lumber-camps, and even the military itself.[4]
Many
of these loquacious salesmen were initially associated with or recommended by
local Liberty Loan committees, so their interest in selling bonds was evident.
They also claimed success. The First Liberty Loan oversold by 52%, and the
Four-Minute Men claimed credit.[5]
They probably deserved it, as the approach of selling to a room full of people
often led to purchases by people who otherwise wouldn’t but feared being
publicly ostracized.[6]
While
sometimes characterized as a “unified voice,” The Four-Minute Men did have some
autonomy in their speeches. While given bulletins and talking points, these men
were trusted by the organization, and so long as they could hold their audience
for four minutes and cause a patriotic stir, they were retained.[7]
In
addition to their ability to raise funds and the total lack of violence associated
with them, the Four-Minute men’s success rested in their relative cheapness.
The entire Four-Minute Men program, including salaries, printing, travel, and
training, was $2.5 million, for a program employing 75,000 speakers delivering
over 750,000 speeches to an estimated 314 million people. This efficiency made
the Four-Minute Men program very popular, earning praise from President Wilson
and causing the never particularly modest George Creel to gloat “no other war
organization, with the exception of the Food Commission, paid such large
returns on a small investment” than the CPI’s speaking program.[8]
Read Part 1
Read Part 3
Read Part 1
Read Part 3
[1] George
Creel. How We Advertised America, 84-5
[2] George
Creel, How We Advertised America, 86-7.
[3] David
Kennedy. Over Here, 61.
[4] George
Creel, 90; Kennedy, 62-3.
[5] James R.
Mock and Cedric Larson, Words That Won the War, 116-7.
[6] Christopher
C.Gibbs, The Great Silent Majority,
83-4.
[7] George
Creel, 89.
[8] George
Creel, 92-98.
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