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Spinning War and Peace: Foreign Relations and Public Relations on the Eve of World War II

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 August 2017

ANDREW JOHNSTONE Open the ORCID record for ANDREW JOHNSTONE [Opens in a new window]
ANDREW JOHNSTONE*
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School of History, Politics and International Relations, University of Leicester. Email: [email protected].
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Abstract

The eve of World War II saw the development of direct connections between public relations experts and issues of foreign affairs in the United States. Public relations professionals assisted both internationalists and noninterventionists to spread their arguments across the nation, helping them to hone their messages, to organize, and to raise money. All of the main citizens’ organizations created during this period sought public relations assistance in the face of growing popular awareness of global events, and with an awareness of the need for public relations counsel in the face of an increasingly measurable concept of public opinion.

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Articles
Information
Journal of American Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , February 2019 , pp. 223 - 251
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press and British Association for American Studies 2017 

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References

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2 On the noninterventionists see Doenecke, Justus D., Storm on the Horizon (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000)Google Scholar; Cole, Wayne S., America First (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1953)Google Scholar. On the internationalists see Johnstone, Andrew, Against Immediate Evil: American Internationalists and the Four Freedoms on the Eve of World War II (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Friedman, Donald J., The Road from Isolation: The Campaign of the American Committee for Non-Participation in Japanese Aggression 1938–1941 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1970)Google Scholar; Johnson, Walter, The Battle against Isolation (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1944)Google Scholar; Chadwin, Mark Lincoln, The Hawks of World War II (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968)Google Scholar. On the broader concepts of “isolationism” and “internationalism” see Johnstone, Andrew, “Isolationism and Internationalism in American Foreign Relations,” Journal of Transatlantic Studies, 9 (March 2011), 7–20CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Blower, Brooke, “From Isolationism to Neutrality: A New Framework for Understanding American Political Culture, 1919–1941,” Diplomatic History, 38 (April 2014), 345–376CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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20 Suggested Steps for the American Committee for Non-Participation in Japanese Aggression, 25 Jan. 1939, John Price Jones Corporation folder, Box 15, ACNPJA Papers; Progress and Program of the American Committee for Non-Participation in Japanese Aggression, 16 Feb. 1940, Reports on Progress 1938 folder, Box 16, ACNPJA Papers.

21 Suggested Steps for the American Committee for Non-Participation in Japanese Aggression.

22 Price to E. Snell Hall, 1 Sept. 1942, ACNPJA ending folder, Box 16, ACNPJA Papers; Jones, John Price and Church, David McLaren, At the Bar of Public Opinion: A Brief for Public Relations (New York: Inter-River Press, 1939), 69–70Google Scholar.

23 The American Union for Concerted Peace Efforts evolved out of the existing and similarly named Committee for Concerted Peace Efforts. The Committee for Concerted Peace Efforts was formed in December 1937 in the aftermath of Franklin Roosevelt's quarantine speech, and contained many members of the League of Nations Association. Press release, Supplementary Information to Statement Issued by William Allen White at Emporia, Kansas, 3 Oct. 1939, AUCPE releases folder, Box 45, Clark Eichelberger Papers, New York Public Library, New York (hereafter Eichelberger Papers).

24 Minutes of the Meeting of the Board of Directors, 16 Oct. 1939, Minutes 1939–40 AUCPE folder, Box 53, Eichelberger Papers; Dallek, Robert, Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995), 204–5Google Scholar.

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27 Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies Addenda to Review of Finances, 14 Jan. 1941, Review of Finances, CDAAA file, Volume 11 (C-292), JPJC records.

28 Brief of Organization Plan for the Campaign of the CDAAA, June 1940, Brief of Plan, CDAAA file, volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records; Alfred C. Gumbrecht to John Price Jones, 2 Oct. 1940, Brief, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records.

29 Suggestions for Future Action of the CDAAA, 20 June 1940, Suggestions on Activities CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records; Policies, Aims and Accomplishments of the CDAAA, 9 Oct. 1940, Folder 15, Box 9, CDAAA Papers; Johnstone, Andrew, “To Mobilize a Nation: Citizens’ Organizations and Intervention on the Eve of World War II,” in Johnstone, Andrew and Laville, Helen, eds., The US Public and American Foreign Policy (London: Routledge, 2010), 26–40, 28–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Memorandum on Chapter Organization, 9 Oct. 1941, Folder 18, Box 5, CDAAA Papers.

30 Harold J. Seymour to John Price Jones and Robert Duncan, 14 June 1940, “‘Fifth Column’ Activities”, Volume 1 (C-283), CDAAA files, JPJC records; Parmar, Inderjeet, “‘… Another Important Group That Needs More Cultivation’: The Council on Foreign Relations and the Mobilization of Black Americans for Interventionism, 1939–1941,” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27 (Sept. 2004), 717CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

31 Situation Report, 15 July 1940, 7 Oct. 1940, 21 Oct. 1940, Situation Reports, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records; Suggestions for Future Action of the CDAAA.

32 Situation Report, 29 July 1940, Situation Reports, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records; Roosevelt, Franklin D., The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1940 (London: Macmillan, 1941), 391–407Google Scholar; Franklin Roosevelt to Stephen Early, 5 Sept. 1940, PPF 1196, Franklin D. Roosevelt Papers, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, NY (hereafter Roosevelt Papers); Resolution, 7 Nov. 1940, Correspondence I–K folder, Box 1, CDAAA Papers.

33 Harold M. Weeks to John Price Jones, 30 Oct. 1940, Weak and Strong Points, Volume 1 (C-283), CDAAA files, JPJC records.

34 Ibid.

35 Situation Report, 7 Oct. 1940, 21 Oct. 1940, 25 Nov. 1940, Situation Reports, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records; Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies Addenda to Review of Finances, 14 Jan. 1941, Review of Finances, CDAAA file, Volume 11 (C-292), JPJC records.

36 Johnson, Battle against Isolation, 181–83; Situation Report, 30 Dec. 1940, 6 Jan. 1941, 1 March 1941, Situation Reports, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records.

37 Situation Report, 5 April 1941, 21 April 1941, Situation Reports, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records; Mrs. Harriman File, 15 April 1941, OF 4230, Roosevelt Papers; Greene to Hugh Moore, 23 June 1941, Folder 20, Box 5, Hugh Moore Fund Papers, Seeley G. Mudd Library, Princeton University; Situation Report, 28 April 1941, 9 June 1941, Situation Reports, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records.

38 White was replaced by former Vermont Senator Ernest W. Gibson Jr., but he too resigned in May 1941 when he was called up for active service in the US Army. Situation Report, 21 April 1941, 23 June 1941, 21 July 1941, Situation Reports, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records.

39 Situation Report, 26 July 1941, 11 Aug. 1941, 18 Aug. 1941, Situation Reports, CDAAA file, Volume 1 (C-283), JPJC records; Moore to Ellsworth Bunker, 6 July 1941, Correspondence: Moore, Hugh 1941 June–1942 Feb. folder, Box 2, CDAAA Papers; Cole, America First, 32.

40 McIntosh Memorandum, 22 Oct. 1941, Correspondence M (3 of 6) folder, Box 1, CDAAA Papers; Contract Letter, 27 Oct. 1941 Correspondence: White, William Allen 1940 Jun.–1941 Oct. folder, Box 2, CDAAA Papers; Moore to Chester La Roche, 14 June 1941, Fundraising Finance Committee Correspondence (I–M) folder, Box 29, CDAAA Papers.

41 Cutlip, Fund Raising in the United States, 165–66. Tamblyn and Brown actually worked with the John Price Jones Corporation in 1941, raising funds for the newly created United Service Organizations. See ibid., 401.

42 Memorandum, 9 June 1941, Folder 3, Box 51, Fight for Freedom Papers, Seeley G. Mudd Library, Princeton University (hereafter FFF Papers); finances memo, undated, Folder 10, Box 53, FFF Papers; Situation Report, 1 Dec. 1941, Folder 11, Box 51, FFF Papers; cash statement, 10. Dec. 1941, Folder 1, Box 52, FFF Papers.

43 Ulric Bell to A. W. MacCarthy, 23 Aug. 1941, Folder 4, Box 51, FFF Papers.

44 Cole, 11–12; Doenecke, Storm on the Horizon, 165.

45 Robert Wood to Walter Shaw, 1 May 1941, Se folder, Box 81, AFC Papers; Howard Beaver to R. Douglas Stuart, 29 April 1941, B: Jan.–April folder, Box 58, AFC Papers; Stuart, Robert D. Jr., Making a Difference: Memoirs of a Lucky Man (Chicago: Coventry Group, 2006), 73–74Google Scholar. Also see Hyman, Sidney, The Lives of William Benton (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1969), 238–39Google Scholar; Schaffer, Howard B., Chester Bowles: New Dealer in the Cold War (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993), 26–32CrossRefGoogle Scholar. Bowles was the only one of these three advertising men who officially joined the national committee.

46 Bernays, Edward L., Speak Up for Democracy (New York: Viking Press, 1940)Google Scholar, Box 296, AFC Papers; Stuart to Wood, 26 April 1941, Stuart R. D. Jr. folder, Box 57, AFC Papers; Robert Bliss memo, 9 Dec. 1940, Organization of Chapter folder, Box 285, AFC Papers; William Harshe to Stuart, 14 Nov. 1940, Senate Foreign Relation folder, Box 66, AFC Papers. Selvage and Smith would later become Manning, Selvage and Lee.

47 William Castle to Stuart, 17 April 1941, Correspondence with Nat Com Members folder, Box 63, AFC Papers; memorandum, undated, James Selvage folder, Box 67, AFC Papers.

48 Stuart to James Selvage, 29 March 1941, James Selvage folder, Box 67, AFC Papers; Stuart to Wood, 26 April 1941, Stuart R. D. Jr. folder, Box 57, AFC Papers; Stuart to Samuel Pettengill, 26 April 1941, Samuel Pettengill folder, Box 62, AFC Papers; Selvage to Wood, 11 April 1941, James Selvage folder, Box 67, AFC Papers; Selvage to Smith Richardson, 6 May 1941, James Selvage folder, Box 67, AFC Papers.

49 Cole, 108; Selvage to Stuart, 14 April 1941, James Selvage folder, Box 67, AFC Papers; Selvage to Stuart, 29 April 1941, James Selvage folder, Box 67, AFC Papers; Bowles to Stuart, 1 May 1941, Chester Bowles folder, Box 59, AFC Papers; Selvage to Stuart, 14 April 1941, James Selvage folder, Box 67, AFC Papers; Minutes of the Board of Directors, 28 March 1941, Corporate Records folder, Box 337, AFC Papers; Minutes of the Board of Directors, 10 April 1941, Corporate Records folder, Box 337, AFC Papers. For numerous responses to Selvage's draft principles see Letters on New Principles folder, Box 291, AFC Papers.

50 Selvage to Smith Richardson, 6 May 1941, James Selvage folder, Box 67, AFC Papers.

51 Ibid.; New York Times, 12 Sept. 1941, 2.

52 Page Hufty to John Wheeler, 5 Aug. 1941, Page Hufty Correspondence folder, Box 3, AFC Papers; Frederic Chase to Hufty, 14 Nov. 1941, Earl C. Jeffrey folder, Box 4, AFC Papers; Bruce Barton to Stuart, 13 Jan. 1941, Miscellaneous folder, Box 56, AFC Papers; Robert Hutchins to Stuart, 218 April 1941, Robert M. Hutchins folder, Box 60, AFC Papers; John Flynn to Wood, 3 Dec. 1941, Abeyance folder, Box 284, AFC Papers; Doenecke, In Danger Undaunted, 56 n. 52.

53 Robert Wood to Walter Shaw, 1 May 1941, Se folder, Box 81, AFC Papers.

54 Sherry, Michael S., In the Shadow of War: The United States since the 1930s (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995), 54Google Scholar.

55 MacLeish cited in Hart, Empire of Ideas, 75; John Sloan Dickey interview by Jere Daniell, 3 March 1975, tapes 1–11, transcript, 166–67, Rauner Special Collections Library, Dartmouth College, at www.dartmouth.edu/~library/rauner/archives/oral_history/dickey/docs_interviews/JSDTapes1-11.pdf; Johnstone, Andrew, “Creating a ‘Democratic Foreign Policy’: The State Department's Division of Public Liaison and Public Opinion, 1944–1953,” Diplomatic History, 35 (June 2011), 483–503CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

56 Morgan., Joseph G. The Vietnam Lobby: The American Friends of Vietnam, 1955–1975 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997), 51Google Scholar; Connelly, Matthew, A Diplomatic Revolution: Algeria's Fight for Independence and the Origins of the Post-Cold War Era (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), 138Google Scholar; Miller, David and Dinan, William, A Century of Spin: How Public Relations Became the Cutting Edge of Corporate Power (London, Pluto Press, 2008), 100–1Google Scholar. For a broader definition of public relations in this period see Osgood, Kenneth, Total Cold War: Eisenhower's Secret Propaganda Battle at Home and Abroad (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2006)Google Scholar.