The Writers' War Board was the main domestic propaganda organization in the United States during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Privately organized and run, it coordinated American writers with government and quasi-government agencies that needed written work to help win the war. It was established in 1942 by author

Rex Stout Rex Todhunter Stout (; December 1, 1886 – October 27, 1975) was an American writer noted for his detective fiction. His best-known characters are the detective Nero Wolfe and his assistant Archie Goodwin, who were featured in 33 novels and ...

at the request of the

United States Department of the Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

Background

Due to the public skepticism of propaganda due to the heavy-handed efforts of the

Committee on Public Information The Committee on Public Information (1917–1919), also known as the CPI or the Creel Committee, was an independent agency of the government of the United States under the Wilson administration created to influence public opinion to support the ...

in the US during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and the fascist regimes' propaganda machinery, the U.S. had adopted a "strategy of truth" whereby they would disseminate information but not try to influence the public directly through propaganda.William L. O'Neill, ''A Democracy At War: America's Fight At Home and Abroad in World War II'', However, seeing the value and need of propaganda, ways were found to circumvent official policy.Thomas Howell, The Writers' War Board: U.S. Domestic Propaganda in World War II, Historian, Volume 59 Issue 4, Pages 795 - 813 The Writers' War Board began its work December 9, 1941, two days after

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the Naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the R ...

, with a speech by author Rex Stout. The civilian organization was formed at the request of Julian Street Jr., head of the writing staff for the

U.S. Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

. Street spoke with playwright

Howard Lindsay Howard Lindsay, born Herman Nelke, (March 29, 1889 – February 11, 1968) was an American playwright, librettist, director, actor and theatrical producer. He is best known for his writing work as part of the collaboration of Lindsay and Crouse ...

about organizing a group of prominent writers to promote the sale of

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...

. Lindsay spoke with his writing partner,

Russel Crouse Russel Crouse (20 February 1893 – 3 April 1966) was an American playwright and librettist, best known for his work in the Broadway writing partnership of Lindsay and Crouse. Life and career Born in Findlay, Ohio, Crouse was the son of Sarah ...

, and they approached

Authors League The Authors Guild is America's oldest and largest professional organization for writers and provides advocacy on issues of free expression and copyright protection. Since its founding in 1912 as the Authors League of America, it has counted among ...

president Rex Stout, who they felt should lead the group. On January 6, 1942, Stout met with Crouse,

Pearl S. Buck Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (June 26, 1892 – March 6, 1973) was an American writer and novelist. She is best known for ''The Good Earth'' a bestselling novel in the United States in 1931 and 1932 and won the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, Pulitze ...

Clifton Fadiman Clifton Paul "Kip" Fadiman (May 15, 1904 – June 20, 1999) was an American intellectual, author, editor, radio and television personality. He began his work with the radio, and switched to television later in his career. Background Born in Bro ...

, Oscar Hammerstein II and

John P. Marquand John Phillips Marquand (November 10, 1893 – July 16, 1960) was an American writer. Originally best known for his Mr. Moto spy stories, he achieved popular success and critical respect for his satirical novels, winning a Pulitzer Prize for '' ...

, and the Writers' War Committee was formed. The organization soon grew beyond its modest founding mission and it was renamed the Writers' War Board.McAleer, John J., ''Rex Stout: A Biography'', foreword by

P. G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jeeve ...

. Boston:

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emily ...

, 1977 .

Purposes

Initially part of the Section of Volunteer Talents of the

Office of Civilian Defense Office of Civilian Defense was a United States federal emergency war agency set up May 20, 1941, by to co-ordinate state and federal measures for protection of civilians in case of war emergency. Its two branches supervised protective function ...

, the Writers' War Board worked through the Office of War Information. Its services were available to all branches of the U.S. government and authorized non-government entities. These quasi-government agencies included the American Red Cross,

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

Army Emergency Relief Army Emergency Relief (AER), often referred to by the longer title ''Army Emergency Relief Fund'', is a non-profit, charitable organization independent of, but closely associated with the United States Army, founded in 1942. The organization is he ...

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

and

United Service Organizations The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

. U.S. government funds subsidized the Writers' War Board offices and clerical staff, but the organization's members were not paid and were free to act independently of government sponsorship.''Writers' War Board First Annual Report''. Writers' War Board, 122 East 42nd Street, New York, New York, December 9, 1942. Its purposes were outlined in its first annual report: * Serve as liaison between American writers and U.S. government agencies seeking written work that will directly or indirectly help win the war; and place ideas or work submitted to the board with appropriate government agencies. Examples include fiction, articles and songs; radio material for broadcast; speeches and style manuals; scripts for troop shows; radio broadcasts and personal appearances by writers. * Serve other accredited agencies in the same capacity. * Initiate and administer enterprises to advance the war effort including creation of radio dramas and efforts to strengthen the embryonic United Nations. The board processed numerous requests from government departments, assigned work to writers, and negotiated more complex requests. When their writing was used in government publications or on the radio, writers donated their work to the war effort. If the material was used in commercial publications the writers were offered compensation at the customary rates, but many donated a portion of their efforts. In its first year the Writers' War Board mobilized 2,000 professional writers and produced over 8,000 stories, radio scripts, ideas, slogans, poems, dramatic skits and books."2,000 Writers Assist in Winning the War". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', January 9, 1943.

Role

Although it was a civilian organization, the Writers' War Board was established expressly to promote government policy and received government funding. Originally intended to promote the sales of war bonds, it soon grew into a liaison office between writers and the government. They both responded to official requests and initiated their own campaigns. Many of the writers involved regarded their work as quicker and bolder than governmental efforts. The board compiled files on 4,000 writers, with their regions and fields of expertise. It worked, according to an employee, as "an arm of the government". And the activities were so extensive that it has been called the "greatest propaganda machine in history". After Congress restricted the activities of the domestic branch of the Office of War Information in mid-1943, the role and importance of the Writers' War Board increased significantly. From 1944 until 1948 prominent U.S. policy makers launched a domestic propaganda campaign aimed at convincing the public to agree to a harsh peace for the German people, for example by removing the common view of the German people and the

Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

as separate entities.Steven Casey, (2005)
The Campaign to sell a harsh peace for Germany to the American Public 1944 - 1948
nline London: LSE Research Online. vailable online at http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/736/Originally published in History, 90 (297). pp. 62-92 (2005) Blackwell Publishing The core in this campaign was the Writers' War Board, which was closely associated with the Roosevelt administration. Writers' War Board chairman

also led the

Society for the Prevention of World War III The Society for the Prevention of World War III was an organization set up in the U.S. in 1944 during World War II that advocated a harsh peace for Germany in order to completely remove Germany as a future military threat. The Organization was a sp ...

Membership

served as chairman of the Writers' War Board; Frederica Barach was liaison officer for the Office of War Information and executive secretary. Members of the inaugural board and advisory council are listed in the organization's first annual report.

Board

* Franklin P. Adams * Sidney Buchman * George Britt *

* Henry Fisk Carlton * Carl Carmer * Robert T. Colwell *

Elmer Davis Elmer Holmes Davis (January 13, 1890 – May 18, 1958) was an American news reporter, author, the Director of the United States Office of War Information during World War II and a Peabody Award recipient. Early life and career Davis was born ...

* Samuel Eubanks *

Paul Gallico Paul William Gallico (July 26, 1897 – July 15, 1976) was an American novelist and short story and sports writer.Ivins, Molly,, ''The New York Times'', July 17, 1976. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2020. Many of his works were adapted for motion pictu ...

* Jack Goodman * Rita Halle Kleeman * Robert J. Landry * Margaret Leech *

* Katharine Seymour *

William L. Shirer William Lawrence Shirer (; February 23, 1904 – December 28, 1993) was an American journalist and war correspondent. He wrote ''The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', a history of Nazi Germany that has been read by many and cited in scholarly w ...

* Luise Sillcox

Advisory Council

Louis Adamic Louis Adamic ( sl, Alojzij Adamič; March 23, 1898 – September 4, 1951) was a Slovene-American author and translator, mostly known for writing about and advocating for ethnic diversity of the United States. Background Louis Adamic ...

Faith Baldwin Faith Baldwin (October 1, 1893 – March 18, 1978) was an American writer of romance novels and other forms of fiction,

Margaret Culkin Banning Margaret Frances Culkin Banning (March 18, 1891 – January 4, 1982) was a best-selling American writer of thirty-six novels and an early advocate of women's rights. Early life Banning was born in Buffalo, Minnesota on March 18, 1891. She ...

Stephen Vincent Benét Stephen Vincent Benét (; July 22, 1898 – March 13, 1943) was an American poet, short story writer, and novelist. He is best known for his book-length narrative poem of the American Civil War, '' John Brown's Body'' (1928), for which he receiv ...

Roark Bradford Roark Whitney Wickliffe Bradford (August 21, 1896, Lauderdale County, Tennessee — November 13, 1948, New Orleans, Louisiana) was an American short story writer and novelist. Life He attended University of California, Berkeley, and served as ...

Louis Bromfield Louis Bromfield (December 27, 1896 – March 18, 1956) was an American writer and conservationist. A bestselling novelist in the 1920s, he reinvented himself as a farmer in the late 1930s and became one of the earliest proponents of sustainab ...

Van Wyck Brooks Van Wyck Brooks (February 16, 1886 in Plainfield, New Jersey – May 2, 1963 in Bridgewater, Connecticut) was an American literary critic, biographer, and historian. Biography Brooks graduated from Harvard University in 1908. As a student ...

* Katharine Brush *

Henry Seidel Canby Henry Seidel Canby (September 6, 1878 – April 5, 1961) was a critic, editor, and Yale University professor. A scion of a Quaker family that arrived in Wilmington, Delaware, around 1740 and grew to regional prominence through milling and bu ...

Mary Ellen Chase Mary Ellen Chase (24 February 1887 – 28 July 1973) was an American educator, teacher, scholar, and author. She is regarded as one of the most important regional New England literary figures of the early twentieth century. Early life Chase was ...

Marc Connelly Marcus Cook Connelly (December 13, 1890 – December 21, 1980) was an American playwright, director, producer, performer, and lyricist. He was a key member of the Algonquin Round Table, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1930. Biogra ...

Norman Corwin Norman Lewis Corwin (May 3, 1910 – October 18, 2011) was an American writer, screenwriter, producer, essayist and teacher of journalism and writing. His earliest and biggest successes were in the writing and directing of radio drama during the ...

* Walter D. Edmonds *

Edna Ferber Edna Ferber (August 15, 1885 – April 16, 1968) was an American novelist, short story writer and playwright. Her novels include the Pulitzer Prize-winning '' So Big'' (1924), ''Show Boat'' (1926; made into the celebrated 1927 musical), '' Ci ...

Dorothy Canfield Fisher Dorothy Canfield Fisher (February 17, 1879 – November 9, 1958) was an educational reformer, social activist, and best-selling American author in the early 20th century. She strongly supported women's rights, racial equality, and lifelong educat ...

Corey Ford Corey Ford (April 29, 1902 – July 27, 1969) was an American humorist, writer, outdoorsman, and screenwriter. He was friendly with several members of the Algonquin Round Table in New York City and occasionally lunched there. Early years Ford was ...

Rose Franken Rose Franken (December 28, 1895 – June 22, 1988), was an American writer and playwright best known for her '' Claudia'' stories, plus the books, films, and plays based on them. Early years Born Rose Dorothy Lewin in Gainesville, Texas, Franken ...

Lewis Gannett Lewis Gannett is an American writer. He is the author of the books ''The Living One'', ''Magazine Beach'', ''The Siege'', and two ''Millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called ...

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* Langston Hughes *

Fannie Hurst Fannie Hurst (October 18, 1889 – February 23, 1968) was an American novelist and short-story writer whose works were highly popular during the post-World War I era. Her work combined sentimental, romantic themes with social issues of the d ...

Marquis James Marquis James (August 29, 1891, Springfield, Missouri – November 19, 1955) was an American journalist and author, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his works ''The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston'' and ''The Life of Andrew Jackson''. Early ...

* Owen Johnson * John F. Kieran * Manuel Komroff *

Edna St. Vincent Millay Edna St. Vincent Millay (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950) was an American lyrical poet and playwright. Millay was a renowned social figure and noted feminist in New York City during the Roaring Twenties and beyond. She wrote much of he ...

Edward R. Murrow Edward Roscoe Murrow (born Egbert Roscoe Murrow; April 25, 1908 – April 27, 1965) was an American broadcast journalist and war correspondent. He first gained prominence during World War II with a series of live radio broadcasts from Europe f ...

Robert Nathan Robert Gruntal Nathan (January 2, 1894 – May 25, 1985) was an American novelist and poet. Biography Nathan was born into a prominent New York Sephardic family. He was educated in the United States and Switzerland and attended Harvard Uni ...

Clifford Odets Clifford Odets (July 18, 1906 – August 14, 1963) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and actor. In the mid-1930s, he was widely seen as the potential successor to Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill, as O'Neill began to withdra ...

Eugene O'Neill Eugene Gladstone O'Neill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Nobel Prize in Literature, literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into the U.S. the drama tech ...

William Lyon Phelps William Lyon Phelps (January 2, 1865 New Haven, Connecticut – August 21, 1943 New Haven, Connecticut) was an American author, critic and scholar. He taught the first American university course on the modern novel. He had a radio show, wrote ...

Fletcher Pratt Murray Fletcher Pratt (25 April 1897 – 10 June 1956) was an American writer of history, science fiction, and fantasy. He is best known for his works on naval history and the American Civil War and for fiction written with L. Sprague de Camp. ...

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (August 8, 1896 – December 14, 1953)
accessed December 8, 2014. was an

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* Kenneth Roberts * Frank Sullivan * Dorothy Thompson *

Carl Van Doren Carl Clinton Van Doren (September 10, 1885 – July 18, 1950) was an American critic and biographer. He was the brother of critic and teacher Mark Van Doren and the uncle of Charles Van Doren. He won the 1939 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autob ...

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Activities

The Writers' War Board was organized into specialized groups including the following: * Army Committee * Brief Items Committee * Civilian Programs Committee * Foreign Writers Committee * High School Contest Committee, * Juvenile Writers Committee, * Library Committee *

Lidice Lidice (, german: Liditz) is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants. Lidice is built near the site of the previous village of the same name, which was co ...

Committee * Lists Committee * Lunchtime Follies Committee (with the American Theatre Wing) * Maritime Commission Committee * May 10—Book Burning Committee * Overseas Broadcasts Committee * Poster Committee * Pulp Writers Committee * Radio Committee * Scripts for Soldier and Sailor Shows Committee * Speech Writers Committee * Star-Spangled Banner Committee * Syndicate Committee * Treasury Half-Hour Show Committee * U.S.O. Committee * U.S.O. Camp Shows Committee * V-Homes Committee * War Page Committee * War Scripts of the Month Committee * Writers' War Board Radio Talks The Writers' War Board compiled lists of books banned or burned in Nazi Germany May 10, 1933, and distributed them for propaganda purposes, which aided in the staging of thousands of commemorations of the book burnings.The Book Mobilization
" In cooperation with the Council on Books in Wartime, the board's May 10—Book Burning Committee, chaired by publisher

Bennett Cerf Bennett Alfred Cerf (May 25, 1898 – August 27, 1971) was an American writer, publisher, and co-founder of the American publishing firm Random House. Cerf was also known for his own compilations of jokes and puns, for regular personal appearanc ...

, coordinated a national commemoration of the ninth anniversary of the book burning in

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. A script written for the occasion was presented nationally on NBC radio, and a second script for local use was distributed to 210 radio stations; both scripts were used throughout the war.

References

External links

Writers' War Board records
at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

The Writers' War Board
{{DEFAULTSORT:Writers' War Board Government agencies established in 1941 United States government propaganda organizations Politics of World War II Agencies of the United States government during World War II Rex Stout American propaganda during World War II