Cold War Propaganda

By: Amanda, Carly, and Emmy

Brr! It’s cold in here! There must be propaganda in the atmosphere!

"I think that propaganda is the tool of governments, of power, and in the long run, it is average people who pay for it,

and it's not soon that you're going to find people with any real kind of political ideals in Russia. They've been lied to so terribly

that they no longer have the desire to believe in anything."

- Vladimir Pozner, Russian journalist

Propaganda Types

White Propaganda• from easily identified sources (newspapers, magazines, radio)Black Propaganda• Appears to be from a friendly source (like the government), but

is really from an adversary • Gray Propaganda• Appears to be from a neutral source, but is really from an

enemyEXAMPLE:• In 1964 the KGB started a huge campaign in Indonesia. They

sent neutral representatives to present the President with forged documents about a US plan to assassinate him. Indonesia harbored anti-US sentiments from then on.

Goals of US Propaganda• Portray communists as

scarier and more unlike Americans

• Make Soviet totalitarian rule a threat to American life

• Anti-communist propaganda made American's fearful and strengthened the movement to support the United States' opposition to communist states.

Goals of Soviet Propaganda

• To describe the West as countries ruled by imperialists and capitalists – Aimed to split the governing and

working classes in the West• This approach actually persuaded

countries in Western Europe to support North Korea in the Korean War

• This eventually backfired when refugees returned with stories of Soviet oppression and brutal tactics

Goals of Soviet Propaganda

• Persuade developing countries to adopt communism

• Portray Soviet society as a modern, progressive culture – It claimed that the USSR was

surpassing the capitalist economies and was ahead technologically

Propaganda Methods

• Radio – with shows such as the USSR’s “Radio Peace for Progress” and the US’s

• TV shows that positively portrayed Soviet or American life

• books, pamphlets, comics, films, and radio

Posters

RADIO

• Voice of America (an external propaganda radio station) which broadcasted in the Philippines, Okinawa, Munich, Greece

• US: Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty and Voice of America became a governmental tool used to spread propaganda

• USSR: Radio Moscow and Radio Peace and Progres

MOVIES/TV

• James Bond movies - portrayed Russians as the "bad guys" that Bond always defeated in the end

• "Rocky and Bullwinkle" - cartoon characterizes the Russians Boris and Natasha as the "bad guys"

• Rocky IV - Rocky, the underdog, defeats the mean and scary Russian in a fight that shocks the Soviet Union.

Movie:Make MineFreedom

Hollywood• Governmental agencies funded

the production of films that dramatized the communist threat.

• "Red Nightmare: The Commies are Coming" was presented by the Department of Defense Directorate for Armed Forces

• This film was seen in school as part of the standard curriculum in civics and history class

THE END!!