Committee on Public Information

I want to know
What you're thinking
There are some things you can't hide
--Information Society

Nazi Germany's Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda headed by Joseph Goebbels is often held as the benchmark of state sponsored information production and manipulation. However, it is a good bet that Goebbels learned much from a previous propaganda machine commissioned by the US government during WWI.

In April, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson signed Executive Order 2594. The order established the Committee on Public Information (CPI) to be headed by journalist and politician George Creel. Because America was deeply divided over the prospect of going to war in Europe, an engagement that Wilson was seeking, the CPI was created to influence public opinion and to create 'enthusiasm' for the war effort.

The CPI engaged in multimedia campaigns to disseminate patriotic information and info about how citizens could contribute to the war effort. Millions of posters, pamphlets, newspaper releases, films, and magazine advertisements were created. The CPI also trained 75,000 volunteers to deliver short patriotic speeches in theaters, churches, town halls, et al. These people became known as the 'Four Minute Men.'

The CPI also worked with government agencies such as the post office to censor what was viewed as seditious anti-war counter propaganda. It sought to pressure people into supporting the war effort and expose those who resisted. For instance, the CPI worked with local newspapers to publish names of people and families who bought war bonds and participated in rationing programs. Lists of those who did not engage in such programs were also published. Patriotic organizations such as the National Security League used these lists to strong arm holdouts into supporting the war effort.

State-sponsored speech is never free speech because resources to fund it are taken under conditions of force. Moreover, state speech crowds out speech that is legitimately free. And, as demonstrated by the Committee on Public Information, entities that act as agencies of state information are prone to engage in more overt acts of suppression as well.