SCRIPTING MEMORY: HOLLYWOOD, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AND PUBLIC MEMORY IN WWII by Jason Jonathan Rivas, B.A. A thesis submitted to the Graduate Council of Texas State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts with a Major in History December 2020 Committee Members: Nancy K. Berlage, Chair Ellen D. Tillman Angela F. Murphy COPYRIGHT by Jason Jonathan Rivas 2020 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Jason Jonathan Rivas, authorize duplication of this work, in whole or in part, for educational or scholarly purposes only. DEDICATION To my mother, Blanca, for never giving up on me. Your eagle finally found his wings. To my fiancée, Courtney Stevens, for being the Linda to my Paul McCartney. Ram on. To every high school dropout with a dream. We are more than just a statistic. I’m rooting for you. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I first want to thank my mother, Blanca, and my fiancée, Courtney Stevens, for their love and support. Mom, I would not be me if it were not for you showing me that it is okay to be so. Courtney, there are no words to describe the incredible support you provide me and my work throughout the years. As such, please consider the previously mentioned words a tribute to those unattainable words. To my little brother, Julio, for being the man I look up to every day. To my little sister, Kelly, for always believing in me. To my dad, Julio, for making amends and cheering me on. Thank you all for always encouraging me to be better every day. To Chris Chappell, Cory Barnes, Charles Turney, Maria Aguirre-Borrero, Conor Farrell, Nicholas Garelick, Lauren Hainley, David Hale, Don Randy Krinsky, Fred Lazare, Cassie Randall, Carol Stevens and all my friends who have supported me through the years. I am nothing without y’all’s friendship. To my thesis committee for their support through the process. To Dr. Nancy Berlage for patiently working with my insane commitments to anything non-thesis related. To Dr. Ellen Tillman for encouraging me to maintain my unique voice in my writings. To Dr. Angela Murphy for her support and guidance of my work in her General Research seminar. I would also like to acknowledge the professors who directly and indirectly helped in my graduate study endeavors. To Dr. Nancy Lopez, Dr. Melissa Hovsepian, Dr. Abigail Koenig, and Dr. Mohsen Mobasher for encouraging me throughout my v experience at the University of Houston-Downtown. To Mr. Dan Utley for being a mentor and "goating" me to be the best public historian I can be. To Dr. Thomas Alter and Dr. Sara Damiano for allowing me a platform to develop my teaching voice under their tutelage. To Dr. Shannon Duffy for encouraging me to take advantage of opportunities provided by the history department. To Dr. Rebecca Montgomery for providing me with an opportunity to finesse my teaching abilities. To Dr. Todd Ahlman, Dr. Ron Brown, Dr. Jeffrey Helgeson, Dr. Jeffrey Mauck, Dr. Josh Paddison, Dr. Caroline Ritter, Dr. Justin Randolph, and Dr. Louie Valencia for listening and reading my work, as well as sharing their thoughts throughout my time at Texas State. To Ms. Madelyn Patlan and Ms. Roberta Ann Ruiz for being the MVPs of the history department. And, finally, to every professor of the Texas State History Department for any interactions we shared. It takes a village to raise a child. To the students of Dr. Angela Murphy's General Research seminar: Mikayla Brown (the unsung hero for many of us), Emily Cecil, Francisco Delgado, Lauren Kahre- Campbell, Valeria Estrada, Evan Moore, Sonya Prado, Courtney Stevens, Dalyn Smith, and Peter Sutherland. Y’all’s feedback served as a good reference point for the rest of my work. The same goes for my fellow graduate students who shared their thoughts and offered tips throughout the process, in particular: Blake Gandy, Rayanna Hoeft, Nikolas Koetting, Maddy Mayhan, Cori McDonald, and Tye Williams. And thank you to everyone else who helped me through my journey from high school dropout to graduate student. vi To Anjali Zutshi and the Friends of the Texas Historical Commission for the opportunity to craft my writing voice under the guidance of Carlyn Hammons, Jenny McWilliams, and Sarah McCleskey of the Texas Historical Commission. To Texas State University and the Graduate College for the opportunity to pursue and earn my master’s degree. To Abigail Miller of the Graduate College for working with me through the thesis formatting process. To the Margaret Herrick Library in Beverly Hills, California and the National Archives at College Park, Maryland for the wealth of information I researched and used in my thesis. And to Hollywood films, thank you for the memories. Finally, I want to extend my gratitude to every person who ever doubted me. I was not the strongest student; I struggled in many a social setting, and often felt disrespected and underestimated by my contemporaries. Thank you to the people who dismissed me as a nowhere man throughout my life. I'm glad you did because it fed me the fuel that I needed for my fire to burn.... I am what I am; you can like it or love it. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................v LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................x CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................1 Memory and Filmmaking ............................................................................4 1930’s Hollywood ......................................................................................10 II. CHAPTER ONE ...............................................................................................16 Persuasion, Memory, and World War I .....................................................18 “War Were Declared”: The Fifth Freedom and the mobilization of the Hollywood front...............................................................................31 Movie Lot to Beachhead ............................................................................37 Why We Fight: Democracy in Film...........................................................40 Conclusion .................................................................................................41 III. CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................43 “The Framework of the Government Information Program” ....................44 “THE ISSUES – Why we fight. What kind of peace will follow victory” ...........................................................................................46 “THE ENEMY – Whom we Fight. The Nature of our Adversary”...........47 “THE UNITED NATIONS AND PEOPLES – With whom we are allied in fighting. Our brothers-in-arms” ........................................49 “WORK AND PRODUCTION – The War at Home. How each of us can fight” ..........................................................................50 “THE HOME FRONT – What we must do. What we must Give Up to Win the Fight” .........................................................................51 “THE FIGHTING FORCES – The job of the fighting man at the front” ................................................................................................52 Case Study: Mrs. Miniver ..........................................................................53 Case Study: Casablanca and Memory .......................................................61 “As Time Goes By”: the memory of Casablanca .....................................71 viii Case Study: Bataan, the Enemy, and the Peoples’ War ............................72 Last Stand at Bataan ..................................................................................76 Conclusion .................................................................................................78 IV. CHAPTER THREE .........................................................................................80 Measuring Success .....................................................................................82 Reception of War Films .............................................................................85 Institutional Issues .....................................................................................94 Controversy and Control ............................................................................97 Conclusion ...............................................................................................103 V. CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................105 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................113 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1: Mrs. Miniver, the main protagonist of the film, is front and center ..............................57 2: Mrs. Miniver discovers an injured Luftwaffe pilot near her home ................................59 3: The village church's vicar gives a speech intent on educating American moviegoers