Media in Wartime

This survey of various Axis and Allied propaganda techniques begins with excerpts from a broadcast made by Lord Haw Haw, in which he cleverly tries to undermine Allied unity. Different Axis approaches to propaganda are demonstrated by the broadcasts of Paul Revere, Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose. America's response to Axis propaganda is revealed in excerpts from various radio programs that drive home the theme of total war on the home front. Such celebrities as James Cagney and Burns and Allen performed in these programs. Also explored is the development of the different styles designed to affect the listener: the montage, the horror story and the humorous vignette. A psychological warfare expert, who was stationed in Europe, recalls the propaganda techniques used there. The tape concludes with Lord Haw Haw's final broadcast made in the last days of the Third Reich, in which he makes a drunken plea for an alliance between Germany and England against the Soviet Union.