History of Propaganda
Recent Scholarship and Current Propaganda Studies
Museums as Sites of Historical Propaganda
| Denkraum Ukraine | Blog | December 3, 2025
This article examines how authoritarian regimes use museums, historical myths, and official narratives to replace local memory with state-approved propaganda.
Propaganda and Information Dissemination in the Russo-Ukrainian War
| Zaur Gouliev | arXiv | June 2, 2025
This study uses natural language processing to compare propaganda accounts and trusted accounts during the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
When the KGB Took an Interest in Le Monde
| Le Monde | Le Monde | January 6, 2025
This article explores Soviet intelligence efforts to influence French media during the Cold War through journalists, planted narratives, and active measures.
Exposing Propaganda: An Analysis of Stylistic Cues
| Géraud Faye et al. | arXiv | February 6, 2024
This paper studies linguistic and stylistic patterns in propaganda news, comparing human annotation with machine classification methods.
Post-war Civil War Propaganda Techniques and Media Spins in Nigeria
| Bolu John Folayan et al. | arXiv | May 17, 2021
This paper analyzes propaganda techniques and media “spin” connected to memories and narratives of the Nigerian Civil War.
Deception and the Strategy of Influence
| Brian B. et al. | arXiv | November 2, 2020
This paper connects older propaganda and influence operations to modern online tactics such as identity masking, audience building, and media hijacking.
Nazi Germany and Holocaust Propaganda
Deceiving the Public
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | May 27, 2026
This article describes how Nazi leaders used staged events, false claims, euphemisms, and deception to justify aggression and disguise mass murder.
Nazi Propaganda and Censorship
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | September 23, 2025
This media essay explains how Nazi Germany combined propaganda and censorship to control newspapers, radio, film, books, art, music, theater, and education.
Art and Propaganda: The Clash of Nations 1930–1945
| German Historical Museum | Deutsches Historisches Museum | 2007
This exhibition explores how art served state power, nationalism, war mobilization, and ideological propaganda in Germany, Italy, the Soviet Union, and the United States.
Assessing Guilt
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explores postwar questions of responsibility for Nazi propagandists who helped incite hatred, persecution, and genocide.
Auschwitz Through the Lens of the SS
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This gallery shows how SS photography could frame camp life through the perpetrators’ perspective, shaping memory and hiding atrocity.
Books Burned by the Nazis
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explains how Nazi book burnings functioned as propaganda spectacles against intellectual freedom, pluralism, and political opposition.
Culture in the Third Reich: Disseminating the Nazi Worldview
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article examines how Nazi-controlled cultural institutions spread racial ideology, militarism, nationalism, and obedience.
Culture in the Third Reich: Overview
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article describes how Nazi cultural policy used art, music, film, literature, and public events to enforce ideology.
Defining the Enemy
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article shows how Nazi propaganda defined Jews and other targeted groups as enemies, outsiders, and threats to the German nation.
Der Stürmer
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article examines the Nazi tabloid Der Stürmer and its use of antisemitic caricature, rumor, obscenity, and hate propaganda.
Indoctrinating Youth
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article describes how Nazi propaganda reached children through schools, youth organizations, textbooks, games, and cultural activities.
Joseph Goebbels
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article profiles Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister who controlled mass media, culture, and public messaging in the Third Reich.
Leni Riefenstahl
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains Riefenstahl’s career and her controversial role in producing visually powerful Nazi propaganda films.
Making a Leader
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article examines how Nazi propaganda manufactured Hitler’s public image as a heroic, infallible, and uniquely necessary national leader.
Ministry of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explains how Joseph Goebbels’s ministry coordinated Nazi control over culture, media, public opinion, and political messaging.
Nazi Propaganda
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explains how Nazi propaganda helped build support for dictatorship, war, racial persecution, and genocide.
Nazi Propaganda and the Volksgemeinschaft
| Facing History & Ourselves | Resource Library | n.d.
This resource explains how Nazi propaganda promoted the idea of a racially unified national community while excluding Jews and other targeted groups.
Nazi Propaganda Photographs
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This photo gallery presents examples of Nazi visual propaganda, including imagery tied to antisemitism, militarism, eugenics, and public mobilization.
Protocols of the Elders of Zion: Key Dates
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This timeline traces the publication, exposure, translation, and continued use of the antisemitic forgery known as the Protocols.
Rallying the Nation
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explains how Nazi propaganda built unity around nationalism, militarism, sacrifice, and loyalty to the regime.
Series: Nazi Propaganda
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This series gathers articles on major themes in Nazi propaganda, including leadership imagery, youth indoctrination, newspapers, public deception, and antisemitic messaging.
The Nazi Olympics Berlin 1936
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explains how Nazi Germany used the 1936 Olympic Games as international propaganda to project order, strength, and respectability.
The Power of Nazi Propaganda
| Facing History & Ourselves | Resource Library | n.d.
This resource examines how propaganda helped the Nazis normalize hatred, build consent, and mobilize ordinary people.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explains the history of a notorious antisemitic forgery and its role in modern conspiracy propaganda.
Triumph of the Will
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article discusses Leni Riefenstahl’s film Triumph of the Will and its importance as a cinematic work of Nazi propaganda.
Writing the News
| United States Holocaust Memorial Museum | Holocaust Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explains how Nazi authorities destroyed Germany’s independent press and issued daily instructions to control news coverage.
World War I Propaganda
How Woodrow Wilson’s Propaganda Machine Changed American Journalism
| Christopher B. Daly | Smithsonian Magazine | April 28, 2017
This article explains how the Wilson administration used wartime propaganda, press management, censorship, and intimidation during World War I.
World War I Posters: The Graphic Art of Propaganda
| Lily Rothman | TIME | May 14, 2015
This article uses World War I posters to show how graphic design became central to mass persuasion, morale building, enlistment, and war-bond campaigns.
American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I
| Library of Congress | Recorded Sound Collection | n.d.
This collection includes wartime speeches and political recordings that show how leaders used sound media to persuade the public.
Atrocity Propaganda
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article examines atrocity stories and enemy-cruelty narratives as propaganda tools during the First World War.
Australian War Propaganda
| Australian War Memorial | Learning Resources | n.d.
This resource examines Australian wartime propaganda and how messages about service, empire, duty, and identity were presented to the public.
British Propaganda and the First World War
| Imperial War Museums | Mapping the Centenary | n.d.
This education project examines British wartime posters and asks what citizens were told to think about the war.
Canadian War Posters
| Canadian War Museum | Collections | n.d.
This collection item illustrates Canadian wartime poster design and the use of propaganda to connect civilian action with military needs.
Censorship
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article examines censorship as a central tool for controlling information, military secrecy, morale, and public opinion during World War I.
Censorship and Propaganda in World War I
| British Library | World War One | n.d.
This article explains the relationship between censorship, propaganda, journalism, and state control during the First World War.
Children and Youth
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article examines how children and youth encountered wartime propaganda through schools, books, toys, patriotic rituals, and youth organizations.
Committee on Public Information
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains the U.S. Committee on Public Information, the World War I propaganda agency led by George Creel.
Film/Cinema
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article examines the use of cinema during World War I, including newsreels, documentaries, and propaganda films.
First World War Recruitment Posters
| Imperial War Museums | Learning Resources | n.d.
This resource uses British recruitment posters to show how propaganda encouraged enlistment by appealing to duty, masculinity, unity, and patriotism.
Four-Minute Men
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains the volunteer speakers who delivered short patriotic talks as part of U.S. World War I propaganda campaigns.
George Creel
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article profiles George Creel and his role in directing the Committee on Public Information during World War I.
George Creel and the Committee on Public Information
| Gilder Lehrman Institute | Encyclopedia | n.d.
This entry explains Creel’s wartime propaganda organization and its use of posters, speeches, pamphlets, films, and press materials.
History of Propaganda
| Imperial War Museums | Mapping the Centenary | n.d.
This project page describes a public talk on propaganda, emotion, romance, sexuality, and persuasion during the First World War.
How Propaganda Changed the First World War
| Fiona Macdonald | BBC Culture | n.d.
This article examines how World War I propaganda transformed the relationship between art, government messaging, public emotion, and mass mobilization.
Key Facts About the First World War
| Imperial War Museums | History | n.d.
This overview notes the role of propaganda in maintaining morale, shaping civilian attitudes, and supporting total war.
Mobilizing Minds
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article examines intellectual mobilization during World War I and the role of scholars, writers, and artists in justifying national war efforts.
New Zealand First World War Posters
| New Zealand History | Ministry for Culture and Heritage | n.d.
This page examines New Zealand World War I posters and the visual messages used to support recruitment and the war effort.
Patriotism and Nationalism
| British Library | World War One | n.d.
This article examines patriotic and nationalist messaging during World War I and how these ideas were used to justify sacrifice and service.
Posters
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article explains how posters became one of the most visible and effective propaganda media of World War I.
Press/Journalism
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article explains how wartime journalism operated under censorship and propaganda pressures during the First World War.
Propaganda and Censorship During Canada’s Great War
| Canadian War Museum | Canada and the First World War | n.d.
This article explains how Canadian authorities used propaganda and censorship to support recruitment, morale, war finance, and national unity.
Propaganda and Dreams
| Library of Congress | World War I: American Experiences | n.d.
This exhibit section explores American World War I propaganda and the ideals, fears, and promises used to mobilize public support.
Propaganda and the American Public
| Gilder Lehrman Institute | History Resources | n.d.
This primary-source feature examines how World War I propaganda shaped American public opinion and helped sell the war.
Propaganda at Home and Abroad
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article surveys the domestic and foreign propaganda efforts of belligerent states during the First World War.
Propaganda Posters in Australia
| National Archives of Australia | Learning Resources | n.d.
This resource uses Australian World War I posters to show how propaganda encouraged enlistment, loans, sacrifice, and patriotic duty.
Recruitment and Conscription
| British Library | World War One | n.d.
This article explores recruitment campaigns and the propaganda appeals used before and during conscription in World War I.
Selling the Great War
| National WWI Museum and Memorial | Learn About WWI | n.d.
This article explains how governments used propaganda to sell World War I to civilians, raise money, recruit soldiers, and sustain morale.
The Great War and the Power of Public Opinion
| Library of Congress | World War I: American Experiences | n.d.
This exhibit section places propaganda within the broader American home front, including mobilization, censorship, patriotism, and dissent.
The Home Front
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article explains how home-front societies were mobilized through propaganda, censorship, labor demands, sacrifice, and patriotic messaging.
The Posters That Sold World War I to the American Public
| Erick Trickey | Smithsonian Magazine | n.d.
This article explains how American World War I posters used patriotic imagery, fear, shame, and duty to build support for the war.
The War That Changed the World
| Library of Congress | Exhibitions | n.d.
This exhibition includes propaganda, posters, speeches, and public campaigns that show how World War I transformed American political communication.
War Aims and War Aims Discussions
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article explains how governments framed war aims for domestic and international audiences through public messaging and political persuasion.
War Posters
| Smithsonian Institution | Women in World War I | n.d.
This Smithsonian page explains how World War I posters became iconic propaganda tools for recruitment, morale, and civilian participation.
What Is Propaganda?
| History.com Editors | HISTORY | n.d.
This overview explains the meaning of propaganda and its modern expansion through World War I, World War II, and mass media.
Women’s Mobilization for War
| 1914-1918 Online | International Encyclopedia of the First World War | n.d.
This article explains how propaganda encouraged women’s labor, nursing, sacrifice, fundraising, and patriotic service during World War I.
World War I Posters
| Library of Congress | Prints & Photographs Division | n.d.
This collection describes approximately 1,900 World War I posters and explains how posters became a powerful medium of wartime communication.
World War I Posters: Free to Use and Reuse
| Library of Congress | Free to Use and Reuse | n.d.
This selection presents World War I posters that used vivid design to inspire, inform, persuade, and mobilize civilians.
World War I Propaganda
| British Library | World War One | n.d.
This article explains how governments in World War I used propaganda to mobilize troops, manage civilians, demonize enemies, and sustain morale.
World War I Propaganda
| History.com Editors | HISTORY | n.d.
This article describes how World War I propaganda used posters, slogans, censorship, and atrocity stories to mobilize civilian populations.
World War I Propaganda Posters
| National WWI Museum and Memorial | Educator Resource | n.d.
This resource uses World War I posters to teach how visual messages appealed to patriotism, fear, duty, guilt, and national identity.
World War One: The Original Propaganda War
This guide explains how World War I governments used newspapers, posters, films, leaflets, and censorship to influence mass opinion.
World War II Propaganda and Home Front Campaigns
We Can Do It!, ca. 1942
| National Archives | Still Picture Branch Highlights | September 19, 2024
This National Archives page explains the famous “We Can Do It!” poster and its connection to World War II production drives and home-front mobilization.
Getting the Message Out
| Robert Ellis | Prologue Magazine | February 6, 2023
This article examines U.S. government posters from World War II and how federal agencies used artists, slogans, and images to shape public behavior.
We Can Do It!: World War II Posters at the Still Picture Branch
| National Archives | The Unwritten Record | September 22, 2020
This post describes World War II poster collections, including propaganda, recruitment, conservation, and production-drive materials.
Powers of Persuasion
| National Archives | Online Exhibits | June 6, 2019
This exhibit explores the persuasive strategies used in American World War II posters, including fear, patriotism, guilt, unity, and sacrifice.
Powers of Persuasion: Poster Art of World War II
| National Archives | DocsTeach | August 15, 2016
This lesson plan uses World War II posters to show how words, images, and slogans were deployed to persuade Americans during wartime.
Home Front Posters from the Second World War
| Imperial War Museums | History | n.d.
This article uses British home-front posters to show how propaganda shaped civilian life, work, food use, shelter behavior, and morale.
Propaganda and World War II
| The National WWII Museum | Teacher Resources | n.d.
This lesson plan examines how propaganda influenced Americans’ views of enemies, allies, sacrifice, and national purpose during World War II.
Propaganda Posters of World War II
| The National WWII Museum | The National WWII Museum | n.d.
This article surveys American World War II posters and the themes of unity, secrecy, production, conservation, and military support.
Second World War Posters
| Imperial War Museums | Learning Resources | n.d.
This classroom resource explores British Second World War poster campaigns and the artists who helped shape wartime propaganda.
The U.S. Home Front During World War II
| National Park Service | Articles | n.d.
This article explains the home-front context in which posters, radio, newsreels, and government campaigns promoted production, rationing, and patriotic sacrifice.
World War II Propaganda Posters
| The National WWII Museum | Teacher Resources | n.d.
This classroom resource uses World War II propaganda posters to teach students how images and slogans shaped wartime public opinion.
Cold War Propaganda and Psychological Warfare
Selected Collections: Cold War Images
| Library of Congress | Research Guides | June 16, 2025
This guide points researchers to Cold War image collections, including posters and visual materials tied to political messaging and propaganda.
Propaganda in International Politics
| Oxford Bibliographies | Oxford University Press | February 26, 2019
This bibliography surveys major scholarship on propaganda in international politics, from wartime persuasion to public diplomacy and psychological warfare.
Cold War Propaganda
| Alpha History | Alpha History | February 20, 2018
This overview explains how the United States and the Soviet Union used propaganda to promote competing political systems and demonize the other side.
War of Words: Propaganda of World War I
| University of Georgia Libraries | UGA Libraries | June 14, 2018
This article describes the many forms of World War I propaganda, including posters, pamphlets, films, speeches, advertisements, and public campaigns.
Cold War Propaganda: The Truth Belonged to No One Country
| Melissa Feinberg | Aeon | December 11, 2017
This essay examines Cold War propaganda as a contest over truth, credibility, and ideological legitimacy in both the United States and Eastern Europe.
Propaganda in Cold Wars
| John B. Whitton | The American Journal of International Law | 1951
This scholarly article analyzes propaganda as a recurring tool of cold-war rivalry, including war-mongering, subversion, and socio-revolutionary messaging.
Atoms for Peace
| International Atomic Energy Agency | History | n.d.
This page explains Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace speech, a major Cold War public-diplomacy effort to recast nuclear technology as peaceful and modern.
Civil Defense and the Cold War
| National Archives | Research Resources | n.d.
This resource explains civil-defense records and the public campaigns that taught Americans how to prepare for nuclear attack.
Cold War Propaganda
| History.com Editors | HISTORY | n.d.
This article explains how the United States and Soviet Union used films, posters, radio, education, and culture to fight an ideological war.
Cold War Radio Broadcasting
| Wilson Center | Sources and Methods | n.d.
This article examines radio as a Cold War tool for persuasion, cultural diplomacy, and ideological competition.
Duck and Cover
| Library of Congress | National Screening Room | n.d.
This film record documents a Cold War civil-defense film that taught children nuclear safety through animation, repetition, and official messaging.
Hollywood and the Cold War
| Library of Congress | Primary Source Timeline | n.d.
This page examines how Cold War fears shaped film, blacklisting, loyalty politics, and ideological messaging in American culture.
McCarthyism
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains McCarthyism and the use of fear, accusation, and publicity in anti-communist politics.
Psychological Warfare
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article defines psychological warfare and explains its relationship to propaganda, morale, intimidation, and military strategy.
Radio Free Europe
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains the history of Radio Free Europe and its role in Cold War broadcasting to audiences behind the Iron Curtain.
Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty
| Hoover Institution Library & Archives | Collections | n.d.
This collection describes records from Cold War broadcasting organizations that transmitted news, commentary, and anti-communist messaging.
The Cold War on File
| The National Archives UK | Education Resources | n.d.
This resource uses Cold War documents to examine propaganda, ideology, suspicion, and information warfare between East and West.
The Congress for Cultural Freedom
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains the Cold War cultural organization later revealed to have received covert CIA support.
The Red Scare
| History.com Editors | HISTORY | n.d.
This article explains anti-communist fear campaigns and political messaging in the United States after World War I and during the Cold War.
Voice of America
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This reference article explains the history of Voice of America as a U.S. international broadcasting service created during World War II.
Soviet, Chinese, and Communist Propaganda
Agitprop
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains agitprop, the Soviet combination of agitation and propaganda used in theater, art, literature, and political education.
Chinese Posters
| Library of Congress | Prints & Photographs Division | n.d.
This collection contains Chinese political posters that show how visual propaganda promoted revolutionary identity, socialism, labor, and state ideology.
Cultural Revolution Propaganda
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains the Cultural Revolution and the mass political messaging, slogans, posters, and personality cult surrounding Mao Zedong.
Mao’s Cult of Personality
| Chinese Posters Foundation | Chinese Posters | n.d.
This page examines the visual propaganda that built Mao Zedong’s image as a revolutionary leader and symbolic father of the nation.
Maoist Propaganda
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article provides background on the Chinese Communist Party, including the political culture in which Maoist propaganda developed.
Political Posters of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
| Chinese Posters Foundation | Chinese Posters | n.d.
This page examines Cultural Revolution posters and how they promoted Maoist ideology, revolutionary struggle, class politics, and loyalty to Mao.
Socialist Realism
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains socialist realism as an official Soviet cultural style used to promote communist ideology, heroic labor, and state-approved values.
Soviet Posters
| Library of Congress | Prints & Photographs Division | n.d.
This collection documents Soviet political posters and the visual language used to promote revolution, socialism, industrialization, patriotism, and state power.
Soviet Propaganda
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains Soviet propaganda as a state-directed system for promoting communist ideology, party authority, and official truth.
Soviet Propaganda Posters
| Brown University Library | Views and Reviews | n.d.
This digital exhibit presents Soviet propaganda posters and explains how revolutionary imagery promoted state ideology and public mobilization.
Soviet Visuals
| Hoover Institution Library & Archives | Digital Collections | n.d.
This collection search provides access to propaganda posters, pamphlets, and visual materials from Soviet, wartime, and political history.
The Little Red Book
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains Quotations from Chairman Mao, a central propaganda text of Mao-era China and the Cultural Revolution.
Women in Chinese Propaganda Posters
| Chinese Posters Foundation | Chinese Posters | n.d.
This page explores how Chinese propaganda posters depicted women as workers, soldiers, mothers, revolutionaries, and socialist citizens.
American Revolution, Early U.S., and Civil War Propaganda
The Stage of War
| Peter Maass | The New Yorker | February 7, 2011
This article discusses the staging and restaging of wartime images, showing how iconic photographs can become propaganda symbols even when partly constructed.
Civil War Propaganda
| American Battlefield Trust | Articles | n.d.
This article explains how Union and Confederate governments, newspapers, songs, images, and speeches shaped public opinion during the Civil War.
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
| Library of Congress | Rare Book and Special Collections | n.d.
This primary-source page presents Paine’s pamphlet, one of the most influential works of Revolutionary political persuasion.
Photography and the Civil War
| Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | n.d.
This article explains how Civil War photography influenced public perception of war, death, memory, and national sacrifice.
Prints and Propaganda in the American Revolution
| Massachusetts Historical Society | Features | n.d.
This page examines Revolutionary-era propaganda and how prints, pamphlets, and public symbols helped mobilize resistance to Britain.
Propaganda in the Spanish-American War
| PBS | Crucible of Empire | n.d.
This resource examines propaganda, press sensationalism, and visual messaging connected to the Spanish-American War.
The Alien and Sedition Acts
| National Archives | Milestone Documents | n.d.
This page explains laws that criminalized certain criticism of government and shaped early American debates over speech, dissent, and political messaging.
The Boston Massacre: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Paul Revere’s Most Famous Engraving
| Massachusetts Historical Society | Object of the Month | n.d.
This page analyzes Paul Revere’s Boston Massacre engraving as a powerful work of Revolutionary propaganda.
The Federalist Papers
| Library of Congress | Primary Documents in American History | n.d.
This page introduces the Federalist Papers as a major campaign of political persuasion in support of the U.S. Constitution.
The Spanish-American War in Motion Pictures
| Library of Congress | Motion Picture Collections | n.d.
This collection shows how early film shaped public understanding of war, empire, patriotism, and news imagery at the turn of the twentieth century.
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
| George Washington’s Mount Vernon | Digital Encyclopedia | n.d.
This article explains how Common Sense used plain language, emotional appeal, and political argument to persuade colonists toward independence.
Yellow Journalism
| PBS | Crucible of Empire | n.d.
This resource explains yellow journalism and how sensational newspaper coverage helped shape public opinion before the Spanish-American War.
Yellow Journalism and the Spanish-American War
| Office of the Historian | U.S. Department of State | n.d.
This article explains how sensationalist press coverage influenced American attitudes toward Spain, Cuba, and intervention in 1898.
Posters, Images, Maps, Art, Film, and Political Cartoons
Food Will Win the War!
| National Archives | Prologue Magazine | July 13, 2023
This article highlights World War I food-conservation posters and shows how visual propaganda connected daily household choices to military victory.
Posters and Graphic Materials
| National Archives | Research Resources | June 17, 2022
This research page describes the National Archives’ poster and graphic holdings, including thousands of wartime propaganda posters from federal agencies.
11 Amazing First World War Recruitment Posters
| Imperial War Museums | History | n.d.
This article presents British and imperial recruitment posters that reveal how governments sold military service to civilians during World War I.
11 Incredible German First World War Posters
| Imperial War Museums | History | n.d.
This article presents German World War I posters that promoted loans, enlistment, sacrifice, national defense, and unity.
Careless Talk Costs Lives
| Imperial War Museums | Collections | n.d.
This collection search shows British “careless talk” propaganda posters warning civilians that gossip could aid enemy spies.
Dig for Victory
| Imperial War Museums | Collections | n.d.
This collection search documents Britain’s “Dig for Victory” campaign, which used propaganda to promote food production and home-front self-sufficiency.
How Uncle Sam Became an American Icon
| Smithsonian Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine | n.d.
This article traces the development of Uncle Sam as a national symbol used in recruitment, patriotic messaging, and propaganda.
It’s a Woman’s War Too
| National Archives | Powers of Persuasion | n.d.
This exhibit page shows how World War II propaganda recruited women into military, industrial, and volunteer service.
Loose Lips Might Sink Ships
| National Archives | Powers of Persuasion | n.d.
This exhibit page shows how American World War II propaganda warned civilians that careless talk could endanger soldiers and national security.
Make Do and Mend
| Imperial War Museums | Collections | n.d.
This collection search highlights British wartime propaganda urging civilians to repair, reuse, conserve, and support the war economy.
Man the Guns
| National Archives | Powers of Persuasion | n.d.
This exhibit page shows how World War II posters used urgency, danger, and patriotic duty to encourage military service and public support.
Persuasive Cartography: The PJ Mode Collection
| Cornell University Library | Digital Collections | n.d.
This collection shows how maps have been used as persuasive and propagandistic tools to shape political arguments and public perception.
Persuasive Maps
| Cornell University Library | Collections | n.d.
This collection overview explains how maps can manipulate scale, symbols, color, and geography to advance political messages.
Political Cartoons and Public Debate
| Library of Congress | Classroom Materials | n.d.
This teaching resource shows how political cartoons use satire, symbols, exaggeration, and persuasion to shape public debate.
Political Cartoons in U.S. History
| National Archives | DocsTeach | n.d.
This lesson uses historical political cartoons to teach visual persuasion, symbolism, bias, and public argument.
Post-World War II Posters from Germany, 1945–1947
| Library of Congress | Finding Aid | n.d.
This finding aid describes postwar German posters collected by Allied authorities during occupation, reconstruction, denazification, and political transition.
Poster Parade
| Library of Congress | Free to Use and Reuse | n.d.
This poster set includes war propaganda, travel, entertainment, and commercial posters from the 1890s through the 1960s.
Rosie the Riveter
| History.com Editors | HISTORY | n.d.
This article explains how Rosie the Riveter became a propaganda symbol for women’s industrial labor during World War II.
The Art of Persuasion
| National Gallery of Art | Features | n.d.
This feature explores visual persuasion in posters and prints, including political and wartime images.
Thomas Nast’s Political Cartoons
| Macculloch Hall Historical Museum | Thomas Nast | n.d.
This site presents the work of Thomas Nast, whose cartoons influenced public opinion on corruption, Reconstruction, immigration, and party politics.
Tokyo Rose
| History.com Editors | HISTORY | n.d.
This article explains how the “Tokyo Rose” broadcasts became associated with Japanese radio propaganda aimed at Allied troops.
United We Win
| National Archives | Powers of Persuasion | n.d.
This exhibit page shows how U.S. wartime propaganda promoted interracial labor unity while still reflecting the contradictions of segregation-era America.
Use It Up, Wear It Out
| National Archives | Powers of Persuasion | n.d.
This exhibit page shows how conservation propaganda encouraged Americans to save food, fuel, rubber, and other scarce wartime materials.
War Art Schemes During the First World War
| Imperial War Museums | History | n.d.
This article explains how official war art programs used artists to document, interpret, and support public understanding of the First World War.
WPA Posters
| Library of Congress | Prints & Photographs Division | n.d.
This collection describes Works Progress Administration posters that promoted public health, theater, education, community events, and civic programs.
Yanker Poster Collection
| Library of Congress | Prints & Photographs Division | n.d.
This collection includes more than 3,000 political, propaganda, and social-issue posters and handbills from the twentieth century.
Media, Advertising, Public Relations, and Propaganda Theory
A Propaganda Model
| Edward S. Herman | Monthly Review | January 1, 2009
This article explains the propaganda model’s claims about media ownership, advertising, sourcing, flak, and ideology in shaping news.
Edward Bernays
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article profiles Edward Bernays, a pioneer of public relations who connected psychology, advertising, and mass persuasion.
Manufacturing Consent
| Noam Chomsky | Chomsky.info | n.d.
This excerpt introduces the propaganda model of media analysis associated with Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky.
Ministry of Information
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains Britain’s Ministry of Information and its role in wartime communication, censorship, and propaganda.
Propaganda
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This reference article defines propaganda, traces its historical development, and explains major techniques used to influence public opinion.
Propaganda and Mass Persuasion
| Nicholas J. Cull | The American Historical Review | n.d.
This scholarly review surveys major works on propaganda, mass persuasion, public opinion, and political communication in modern history.
Propaganda by Edward Bernays
| Edward Bernays | Internet Archive | n.d.
This digital copy of Bernays’s 1928 book shows how early public-relations theory openly discussed organized influence over public opinion.
Propaganda Techniques
| Facing History & Ourselves | Resource Library | n.d.
This resource defines common propaganda methods and helps readers analyze how messages try to influence emotions, identity, and choices.
Public Diplomacy
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This reference article explains how governments communicate with foreign publics through cultural, informational, and persuasive campaigns.
Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann
| Walter Lippmann | Internet Archive | n.d.
This book introduced influential ideas about stereotypes, news, pseudo-environments, and the management of public opinion in mass society.
Public Relations
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains the development of public relations and its relationship to persuasion, reputation management, media strategy, and public opinion.
Seven Common Propaganda Devices
| Propaganda Critic | Propaganda Critic | n.d.
This page explains classic propaganda techniques such as name-calling, glittering generalities, transfer, testimonial, plain folks, card stacking, and bandwagon.
The Crowd
| Gustave Le Bon | Internet Archive | n.d.
This influential work on crowd psychology shaped later theories of propaganda, mass persuasion, leadership, and emotional contagion.
The Engineering of Consent
| Edward Bernays | History Is A Weapon | n.d.
This text presents Bernays’s influential argument that public opinion can be shaped through organized persuasion and public relations.
The Fine Art of Propaganda
| Institute for Propaganda Analysis | Internet Archive | n.d.
This book applies the Institute for Propaganda Analysis method to speeches and political messaging, showing how propaganda techniques were categorized.
The History of Advertising
| Encyclopaedia Britannica | Britannica | n.d.
This article explains the rise of modern advertising, an important neighbor to propaganda in the history of persuasion and mass communication.
The Institute for Propaganda Analysis
| Propaganda Critic | Propaganda Critic | n.d.
This page introduces the Institute for Propaganda Analysis and its famous list of propaganda techniques from the 1930s.
The Story of Propaganda
| British Library | 20th-Century Literature | n.d.
This article explores propaganda as a modern cultural and political force, linking persuasion, literature, mass media, and political power.
Digital Disinformation, Fake News, and Information Warfare
The History of Disinformation
| The Atlantic | The Atlantic | May 2020
This article places modern disinformation within a longer history of rumor, forged documents, propaganda campaigns, and political manipulation.
The Long and Brutal History of Fake News
| Jacob Soll | Politico Magazine | December 18, 2016
This article traces fake news and propaganda-like falsehoods from early modern Europe through modern politics.
Active Measures
| Central Intelligence Agency | Reading Room | n.d.
This collection provides declassified materials on Soviet active measures, including forgeries, front groups, disinformation, and influence operations.
A Brief History of Fake News
| Center for Information Technology and Society | UC Santa Barbara | n.d.
This article places fake news within a longer history of rumors, hoaxes, partisan media, propaganda, and political manipulation.
Computational Propaganda
| Oxford Internet Institute | Computational Propaganda Project | n.d.
This project studies how social media, bots, algorithms, and political actors use computational tools to manipulate public opinion.
Disinformation and Propaganda
| Darrell M. West | Brookings Institution | n.d.
This article explains modern disinformation and fake news as digital-age forms of persuasion, manipulation, and political influence.
Foreign Malign Influence
This page explains foreign malign influence as modern state-directed propaganda, deception, and manipulation aimed at democratic societies.
Information Disorder
| Claire Wardle | First Draft | n.d.
This article explains misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation as part of a broader information-disorder framework.
Information Warfare
| RAND Corporation | Topics | n.d.
This topic page gathers research on information warfare, including propaganda, influence operations, psychological operations, and digital manipulation.
Misinformation, Disinformation, and Propaganda
| Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | Resources | n.d.
This resource defines misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation and explains how false or misleading content can influence public behavior.
News Literacy and Propaganda
| News Literacy Project | Educator Resources | n.d.
This resource helps readers distinguish credible information from propaganda, misinformation, and manipulative online content.
Online Political Advertising
| International IDEA | Publications | n.d.
This publication explains how political microtargeting and online advertising have changed modern persuasion and electoral propaganda.
Operation INFEKTION
| Wilson Center | Sources and Methods | n.d.
This article explains the Soviet-bloc AIDS disinformation campaign and how false narratives were spread through international media channels.
Russian Social Media Influence
| RAND Corporation | Research Reports | n.d.
This report analyzes Russian social media influence efforts and their relationship to modern propaganda and disinformation strategies.
Soviet Active Measures in the Post-Cold War Era
| Central Intelligence Agency | Reading Room | n.d.
This declassified document discusses Soviet active measures and their use of disinformation, covert influence, and propaganda techniques.
The CIA and the Cultural Cold War
| Central Intelligence Agency | Reading Room | n.d.
This collection provides documents on cultural programs, intellectual networks, and covert influence efforts during the Cold War.
The Global Disinformation Order
| Oxford Internet Institute | Programme on Democracy and Technology | n.d.
This report documents organized social-media manipulation by governments and political parties around the world.
The History of Fake News
| Center for Information Technology and Society | UC Santa Barbara | n.d.
This overview traces false news and propaganda across print, broadcast, and digital media history.
The KGB and Soviet Disinformation
| Wilson Center | Publications | n.d.
This publication examines Soviet disinformation practices and the intelligence structures that supported propaganda abroad.
The Russian “Firehose of Falsehood” Propaganda Model
| Christopher Paul and Miriam Matthews | RAND Corporation | n.d.
This report describes a modern propaganda model based on high-volume, rapid, repetitive, and inconsistent messaging.
Teaching Resources and General Overviews
Propaganda: The Art of Persuasion
| The National Archives UK | Education Sessions | n.d.
This educational resource uses photographs, posters, and film to examine British propaganda and persuasion during the Second World War.
Analyzing Propaganda
| Facing History & Ourselves | Resource Library | n.d.
This teaching resource helps readers identify propaganda techniques and understand how messages influence attitudes, identity, and behavior.
Lord Haw-Haw
| History.com Editors | HISTORY | n.d.
This article describes Nazi English-language radio propaganda and the case of William Joyce, known as Lord Haw-Haw.
Perspectives on Propaganda
| Library of Congress | Classroom Materials | n.d.
This classroom resource uses primary sources to help students analyze propaganda techniques, audience, purpose, and historical context.
Selling the War
| The National WWII Museum | The National WWII Museum | n.d.
This article explains how American propaganda campaigns promoted war bonds, conservation, enlistment, and home-front participation during World War II.
The Enemy Within: Propaganda and Fear
| The National Archives UK | Education Resources | n.d.
This resource helps students analyze British propaganda sources and understand how wartime governments appealed to fear, duty, and loyalty.
The Office of War Information
| The National WWII Museum | The National WWII Museum | n.d.
This article describes the U.S. Office of War Information and its role in coordinating wartime messaging across posters, films, radio, and press.
The Rise and Fall of Lord Haw-Haw During World War Two
| Imperial War Museums | History | n.d.
This article tells the story of William Joyce, whose German radio broadcasts targeted British listeners with enemy propaganda.
World War II on the Home Front
| National Park Service | National Historic Landmarks | n.d.
This page describes the U.S. home front and the public messaging that connected factories, families, rationing, and civilian labor to victory.
