David Kennedy Talks about American Society, "The Good War," and Enjoying Sins

Here's a great talk by David Kennedy, a history professor at Stanford and author of the Pulitzer prize-winning Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945. I highly recommend it.

David M. Kennedy: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 from The Gilder Lehrman Institute on Vimeo.

“Work! Save!! Win!!!”: Selling the Cost of World War I in America - Part 2: Four-Minute Men

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]

“Work! Save!! Win!!!”: Selling the Cost of World War I in America - Part 1: Introduction and Posters

Woodrow Wilson was less than a month into his second administration as President of the United States when he asked Congress to declare war on Germany. It was an unlikely position for the President, who had, in his inaugural address, just reaffirmed the nation’s neutrality in Europe’s war.[1] His famous reelection campaign slogan, “He Kept Us Out of War,” was suddenly replaced by an appeal to make the world “safe for democracy.”[2]

            At the time, The United States had very little in the way of a standing army, which was reflected in their annual budget. On the day that Congress passed the declaration of war on Germany, the entire national budget was $1 billon. Just a year later, war spending would force it to increase by 2000% to $20 billion.[3]

Figure 1 - Poster promoting Liberty Bonds.
All images in this post courtesy
of Library of Congress. 

Raising revenues by such an extreme amount proved a daunting task for the Treasury Department, but Secretary George McAdoo, along with the newly minted Department of Public Information, popular magazines and newspapers, and home front armies of volunteers from organizations like the Boy Scouts, The Four-Minute Men, and local bond drive organizers effectively sold bonds over the course of America’s 18-month involvement “over there” through posters, editorials, articles, lectures, social events, and door-to-door sales. These efforts, as we will see, played on a wide range of emotions and beliefs of Americans, ranging from pride in community and nation, to guilt and obligation, to depictions of belligerent enemies as monsters, non-Europeans, and amoral.  

            Regardless of their angle, these varied and often decentralized approaches at fundraising were all directed at The Department of Treasury’s “Liberty Loans”, of which heavy-loaded requests for purchase were made of the American people four times from April 24, 1917 to September 28, 1918.

Read about posters after the jump!

A new focus: Cultural History of America!

The previous incarnation of this blog hoped to focus on the history of my home city of Boston. In that capacity, I ultimately wrote very little and had trouble maintaining my enthusiasm. After deciding to reconsider the Boston History Blog last year, the page went completely silent while I attended graduate school at University of Massachusetts-Boston, where I am pursuing my MA in History.

In this year of study, I've found that my interest in history lies rather firmly in cultural history. I've written a number of papers, done loads of research, and have discovered plenty of things about American culture that are of great interest to me, and I hope will be to you, as well. With this in mind, I am assembling a new collection of short articles, series' of articles, book reviews, etc. which I will be posting starting July 4 on this page. Posts will come twice a week, and will focus primarily on cultural history of the American home front during the World Wars. I will, from time to time, deviate from that period, but 20th century will be the page's primary focus.

What do I mean by "cultural history?" I've seen a lot of definitions. For my purposes, cultural history will deal with the social, political and cultural life of the American people at home. This means anything from the political motivations of bond drives to ethnic groups' support or opposition to the war at home to community efforts to grow food.

I'm very excited about this work, and hope to be able to share it with you.

I've also created a new twitter handle: @CulturalHistUSA. Please follow us and bookmark this page. I look forward to being part of the online dialogue about how Americans came to be Americans through collective cultural experience.

Best,
Matt Wilding

Update on BHB's future

Readers,

In an effort to make a blog that is more useful to the local history enthusiast community, I'm reconsidering my approach to the content here.

Initially, I was endeavoring to compiling all the history events in the area, but found that to be tedious and uninteresting. As nothing but the most complete and always timely list would do, once I fell off posting events weekly, it seemed unnecessary.

In the future, I will be posting featured events that I think are of particular interest to the Boston history community. I will also be adding a box in the left column with upcoming events. In the meantime, I encourage readers to check TheHistoryList.com for local history listings.

Upcoming subjects this blog will broach include Boston's celebration of the War of 1812, municipal monuments to World Wars I & II, and Italian-American struggles with cultural identity coinciding with the rise of Mussolini.

I apologize for the absence of content since the launch, and will be working to remedy it.

If you have any suggestions on topics on Boston history, or have questions you'd like to see answered, please feel free to comment below, or email me.

Thanks,
Matt W.

History Events: Remainder of March

I missed some events earlier this week, for which I apologize. Particularly, MHS had a talk on the Bread & Roses strike, while JP's BPL branch had a talk on ARSNICK. To remedy this for the future, I'm going to post month posts, and update as the month goes on. So without further ado, the rest of March...

Thursday, March 22, 2012

12:15-1:15 PM

Boston Neighborhoods: Roxbury

Thomas Plant, President of the Roxbury Highlands HistoricalSociety, will discuss the history of the neighborhood, including the Shirley Eustis House. $6; free for OSMH members.

Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington St., Boston

OldSouthMeetingHouse.org

5:30-7:30 PM

Formidable Families: Writing about Famous Brothers and Sisters

A panel of writers, including George Howe Colt, Paul Fisher, and Louise W. Knight, moderated by Megan Marshall, will explore the process of developing collective biographies, specifically research and writing about siblings. RSVP Required. Free.

Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston St., Boston

MassHist.org

Saturday, March 24, 2012

10:00-11:30 AM

Tour: The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society

Join an MHS staffer on a tour of the Society’s public rooms, touching on the organization’s history and collections. Free.

Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston St., Boston

MassHist.org

1:00-3:00 PM

Hands-on Historic Preservation

In an effort to spark an interest in preservation among children and families, West End Museum and the Otis House will open their doors for interactive preservation activities.

Otis House, 141 Cambridge St., Boston, and West End Museum, 150 Staniford St. Suite 7, Boston

HistoricNewEngland.org / TheWestEndMuseum.org

Sunday, March 25, 2012

2:00-3:30 PM

Women of Beacon Hill: Women’s History Month Series

Beacon Hill tour will recount stories of women who shaped Beacon Hill over the centuries of all classes, races, and political stripes. $7 for HNE members, $15 for nonmembers.

Otis House, 141 Cambridge St., Boston

HistoricNewEngland.org

3:00-5:00 PM

The Greatest Events of the Present Era: Collecting History at the Concord Museum

Concord Museum curator David Wood will provide an illustrated presentation of the Concord Museum’s collection, including artifacts associated with the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War.

Minute Man Visitor Center, 250 North Great Road, Lincoln, MA

NPS.gov

Monday, March 26, 2012

5:30-7:00 PM

The Presidency of LBJ

Mark Updegrove, director of the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum, will discuss his new book, Indomitable Will: LBJ in thePresidency.

Registration required. Free.

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point, Boston

JFKLibrary.org

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

7:30-9:00 PM

A History of Henry Beston's Outermost House

Henry Beston Society co-founder and this bloggers dad (yeah, Dad!) Don Wilding will discuss Henry Beston's Cape Cod with visual accompaniment. Free. Sponsored by the Foxborough Historical Society.

Foxboro Senior Center, 75 Central St., Foxboro, MA

HenryBeston.org

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

5:30-7:00 PM

Author Talk: Christopher Klein

Christopher Klein, author of Discovering the Boston Harbor Islands, will present a talk on the little-known history of Boston’s 34 Harbor Islands, including their roles in the Revolutionary and Civil wars, and the “real Shutter Island.” This program presented by the Boston Preservation Alliance. $10; free for members of the BPA or OSMH. Reservations available.

Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington St., Boston

OldSouthMeetingHouse.org / BostonPreservation.org

6:00-7:30 PM

A French Affair: Restoring the 1652 Manoir de Berthouville

Designer Charles Spada will speak about his restoration efforts to his seventeenth-century country manor in Normandy, France, which was recently featured in Veranda Magazine. $25; free for Codman Design Group members. Registration required.

Hampshire House, 84 Beacon St., Boston

HistoricNewEngland.org

7:00-8:30 PM

The Old Corner: How a Modest Bookstore Defined a Boston Literary Epoch

Author Matthew Pearl will speak on Boston’s Old Corner Bookstore, a staple of the city’s 19^th century literary community, once owned by American publishers Tickner & Fields and frequented by literary giants such as Emerson, Thoreau, and Dickens.

Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall, Copley Square, Boston

BPL.org

Thursday, March 29, 2012

12:15-1:15 PM

Boston Neighborhoods: Charlestown

Historian Carl Zellner of the Charlestown Historical Society will conduct a talk on Charlestown’s history, covering settlement, the Revolution and the burning of the original town in 1775, its annexation by Boston in 1874, and into the modern day. $6; free for OSMH members.

Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington St., Boston

OldSouthMeetingHouse.org

6:00-7:30 PM

Author Series: Harlow Giles Unger on The Boston Tea Party

Historian Harlow Giles Unger, author of the action-packed AmericanTempest: How the Boston Tea Party Sparked a Revolution will discuss the subject of his book, revealing little-known truths behind the legendary event and the consequences of it. Free.

Boston Public Library, Abbey Room, Copley Square, Boston

BPL.org

Saturday, March 31, 2012

10:00-11:30 AM

Tour: The History and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society

Join an MHS staffer on a tour of the Society’s public rooms, touching on the organization’s history and collections. Free.

Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston St., Boston

MassHist.org

South Boston Historical Society visits local schools

The South Boston Historical Society and Mt. Washington Bank put together a "history slam" presenting historical education programming to five city schools in just one day!



Watch the mash-up!