Propaganda and Trench Art in World War I

World War I began in 1914; the United States joined three years later in 1917. The American people were initially set on taking a neutral position in the war, but several factors contributed to the United States eventually taking a side. In order to create positive public opinion for the decision to join the war, Woodrow Wilson created the Committee on Public Information. The Committee created its own propaganda in order to encourage the American people to support the war. The committee did not create all propaganda, but a majority of songs and posters held the patriotic message of backing the country’s decision. In addition to propaganda put out during World War I, soldiers created trench art, any decorative item created by someone involved in war where the manufacture is directly related to the conflict. Soldiers, domestic and foreign, created trench art, most of it conveyed the feelings throughout the war.

The song “Say a Prayer for the Boys ‘Out There’” was written in 1917, the same year that the United States joined World War I. Soldiers were just being sent away to war and the song called for Americans to pray for the deployed soldiers and their families. Though this song was not written for the Committee on Public Information, it still held a strong message that citizens should support the war. The song mentioned, “those who fight for liberty” and soldiers laying down their lives for our safety, “so that we may live, their lives they give.” These two specific lines related closely to the American values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For an American to deny support to any soldier who fights for those things, would seem unpatriotic. The song may have had the intention of drawing young men to enlist as it se...

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... the war. They dealt with such loss that it is logical to want to remember fellow soldiers with something more than just a memory. In the case of the trench art used to commemorate the Battle of Verdun, a soldier used an artillery shell, a weapon used in that battle, to memorialize his fallen comrades.

When the United States made the decision to enter into World War I, President Woodrow Wilson feared American backlash. With the creation of the Committee of Public Information, the United States used propaganda to urge citizens to support the war. Other posters, songs, etc. that were not related to the Committee of Public Information were created as well to call for support for the war, the soldiers, and families that were affected by the war. Trench art was also common during the time period of World War I for soldiers to express their emotions and honor the fallen.