Cold War Educational Propaganda and Instructional Films, 1945-1965
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Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2011 Cold War Educational Propaganda and Instructional Films, 1945-1965 Claire Hope Virginia Commonwealth University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/2416 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cold War Educational Propaganda and Instructional Films, 1945-1965 A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University By Claire Llewellyn Williams Hope Director: Dr. Emilie Raymond Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University Thesis Committee: Second Reader—Dr. Ryan Smith, Virginia Commonwealth University Third Reader—Dr. Marcel Cornis-Pope Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia May 2011 Table of Contents Abstract...........................................................................................................................5 Introduction.....................................................................................................................7 Project....................................................................................................................9 Propaganda and Intent........................................................................................10 Significance..........................................................................................................11 Sources................................................................................................................12 Methodology........................................................................................................14 Chapter Outline....................................................................................................15 Chapter I: A Brief History of Educational Propaganda.............................................16 The Etymological Transformation of Propaganda................................................17 World War I..........................................................................................................17 The Inter-War Period and the Propaganda Debate.............................................19 World War II and the Termination of the Debate.................................................26 The Foundation of Cold War Education...............................................................31 Cold War Historical Overview..............................................................................33 The Cold War Consensus....................................................................................37 Cold War Instructional Films................................................................................40 Chapter II: Ideological Persuasion, Part I: Establishing Americanism....................45 Preventing Indoctrination through Indoctrination.................................................46 Sharpening the Appeal........................................................................................53 “The Deeper Chords”...........................................................................................60 The Departure from Reason................................................................................65 Troublesome Implications....................................................................................71 Conclusion...........................................................................................................79 Chapter III: Ideological Persuasion, Part 2: Identifying the Enemy.........................80 The Culture of Fear..............................................................................................81 Coping Through Ambiguity..................................................................................84 Direct Engagement..............................................................................................97 Educators Respond...........................................................................................110 Conclusion.........................................................................................................115 Chapter IV: Education Made Imperative: The Role of the Atomic Threat..............116 Inducing Terror...................................................................................................118 The Security-Fear Dynamic...............................................................................127 Retreat as Treason............................................................................................142 The Benevolent Atom........................................................................................151 Conclusion.........................................................................................................158 Conclusion: The Dismantling of Consensus...........................................................160 The National Defense Education Act.................................................................161 Civil Rights.........................................................................................................162 Nuclear Weapons..............................................................................................164 Vietnam..............................................................................................................165 The Influence of the Student Movements..........................................................166 The Road to Critical Education..........................................................................168 A Change in Film Content..................................................................................176 The Circle Completed........................................................................................177 Abstract COLD WAR EDUCATIONAL PROPAGANDA AND INSTRUCTIONAL FILMS, 1945- 1965 By: Claire Llewellyn Williams Hope, MA A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2011 Director: Dr. Emilie Raymond Associate Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University This thesis will examine the response of educators to the use of the American public school system for ideological management during the early Cold War period. Through an assessment of instructional films, this work will show that the objectives of educational propaganda fell into three main categories: to promote Americanism as the national ideology, to deter students from communism or communist sympathy, and to link the potential for nuclear warfare to ideological lassitude. It will be argued that although the majority of educators accepted these goals, as films became increasingly extreme in their presentations, a critical minority revealed discontent with the use of the school for the purposes of indoctrination. By the mid-1960s, a number of factors would result in the dismantling of the Cold War consensus and a reinvigoration of the critical perspective in education. Introduction As an important institution for the spread of ideas, the designated function of the school has long been a matter of controversy. Debate emerges regarding contradictory proposals for the role of the school in ideological management versus critical thinking. Ideology represents the body of ideas providing foundation for political and cultural systems. Critical thinking subjects beliefs to analytical examination to determine the reasoning behind them. These interpretations come into conflict when the ideology espoused does not meet the standards of critical evaluation. Although the origin of this dispute may be traced to the formation of the modern public school system in the nineteenth century, the historical context of the Cold War period fostered a temporary lapse in argumentation wherein the primary role of the school as a conveyor of ideology proved dominant. The Second World War had resulted in an international power vacuum that both the United States and the Soviet Union sought to fill. Allied victory convinced the United States of the universal appeal of both democracy and American values. The Soviet Union believed the postwar period provided an opportunity for the expansion of communism. It was the ideological incompatibility of the American systems of democracy and capitalism with the Soviet system of communism that ushered in the Cold War. These tensions became manifested in proxy wars and a security dilemma 7 wherein efforts to enhance the security of one nation appeared an act of provocation to the other. As the Cold War represented an ideological battle in which the United States and the Soviet Union sought to impose their respective worldviews domestically and internationally, indoctrination through education became a legitimized practice adopted by both nations. In the United States, the formation of a bipartisan Cold War consensus provided the ideological framework on which to base curriculum. Of primary import within this context was the participation of educators in the use of the school for ideological management. An assessment of the interaction between educators and educational propaganda reveals a complex relationship.