206: American Propaganda: Cap’s Debut, Frank Capra’s War Docs, and Casablanca

“Will young, freewheeling American boys take the iron discipline of wartime? … In my judgment the answer is Yes! ... if the answers they get are worth fighting and dying for.” This is the story of propaganda on the home front. The word “propaganda” has some messy connotations, but it’s fundamentally about pushing a narrative, which can be good or evil. Leaders on all sides of the war thought about how to spur the populace to join in the war effort, and in America, it fell to entertainers and artists to really rally the nation to war. They utilized every form imaginable: films, comics, cartoons, posters, anything. Movie and comedy stars put on road shows for soldiers. Animation studios enlisted beloved cartoon figures like Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny to sell war bonds, and even invented the hilariously inept Private Snafu to teach soldiers what NOT to do. Captain America, on the other hand, was born ready to punch Hitler’s lights out. We’ll also cover that unassailable masterpiece, Casablanca, as well as some propaganda aimed at US soldiers from the other side: the siren known as “Tokyo Rose.” ____ Connect with us on HTDSpodcast.com https://www.htdspodcast.com/ and preorder Prof. Jackson’s new book https://www.htdspodcast.com/book go deep into episode bibliographies https://www.htdspodcast.com/bibliography and book recommendations https://www.htdspodcast.com/book-recommendations join discussions in our Facebook community https://www.facebook.com/groups/257926761619618/ get news and discounts from The HTDS Gazette https://www.htdspodcast.com/newsletters-1 come see a live show https://www.htdspodcast.com/live-shows get HTDS merch https://htds-team-shop.fourthwall.com/ or become an HTDS premium https://htds.supercast.com/ member for bonus episodes and other perks. HTDS is part ofAudacy media network. https://www.audacy.com/Interested in advertising on the History That Doesn't Suck? ContactAudacyinc.com https://audacyinc.com/contact.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Greg Jackson?

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• 0:44Greg Jackson?

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• 1:15Greg Jackson?

  It's early in the still-dark morning on an unspecified day in June 1942, and Norman Rockwell is lying in his bed at home in Arlington, Vermont. His wife is sleeping soundly, but Norman, not at all. The lanky, thin-haired painter and illustrator is tossing and turning, suffering, as creative minds are wont to do, as he obsesses over an idea that's so close to perfect, but just not there. You know, let's allow the tortured artist to wrestle with his mental demons for a minute, while I give you some background.

• 1:50Greg Jackson?

  Here's the deal. Norman Rockwell and his likewise illustrator buddy, Meade Schaefer, or Schaeff, as Norman calls him, both want to do their part in the war effort. But they aren't young men. They were born in the 1890s. Yeah, the previous century. So enlisting isn't the answer. But that's fine. Both feel they can contribute more with a paintbrush than a gun. They want to produce some war-supporting posters for Uncle Sam. And Norman has an idea. He wants to bring to life those four freedoms that President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed in his annual message on January 6th, 1941. The freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.

• 2:35Greg Jackson?

  Yes, I'm sure it sounds familiar. We heard that speech in episode 189, and FDR used these four freedoms as his basis for pushing Americans to build that British-supporting arsenal of democracy that he had called for but a week before that. They surfaced again later that same year, 1941, in August, when FDR and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issued their Atlantic Charter, which Norman has been contemplating. He sees protecting these cherished freedoms as America's reason for fighting, and he wants to convey that in art. But how? How does one make something as abstract as different concepts of freedom a concrete visual in his style, his illustrative realism?

• 3:20Greg Jackson?

  This is his thing, but getting it right, that's what has him tossing and turning. But enough background. Let's get back to our famed illustrator. It's now about 3:00 in the morning. Suddenly, Norman shoots up like a rocket as an idea strikes him, and that idea is his dear neighbor, Jim Edgerton. At a recent town meeting, nearly everyone supported a proposal to build a new school. Everyone except Jim. He was brave enough to stand and speak against the popular measure, and likewise, the rest of Arlington's citizens were brave enough to hear him out. No one shouted him down. They let him speak.

• 4:03Greg Jackson?

  And now, at 3:00 a.m., with a war raging that raises questions of whether democracy and its attendant values are worth defending, this memory of a simple town meeting hits Norman like lightning. This, this is his illustration of the freedom of speech. Simply a man standing and speaking as his fellow citizens sit and hear him out. That's the visual. And surely, this is the answer for all four freedoms. Illustrate the ways in which his little town in Vermont quietly lives and enjoys these very freedoms every day.

• 4:42Greg Jackson?

  Filled with energy, Norman charges down the stairs. He's got to call Shaeff and share his epiphany. No, wait. It's 3 a.m. Can't place a call at this hour. He'd disturb all the other households on Shaeff's party line. He'll have to do this in person. Dashing outside, the gangly illustrator grabs his bike and rides down the country road to Shaeff's house. Ripped from his slumber, Shaeff comes to the door and as the two carry on with their predawn chat, he's filled with just as much excitement as Norman. Yes, this communicates what America is about and what America is fighting to preserve.

• 5:27Greg Jackson?

  In following days, Norman makes an initial sketch of all four freedoms. He and Shaeff travel to Washington, D.C., where they offer their drawings as posters to the U.S. government. Now, according to Norman, the Office of War Information flatly rejects him and Shaeff, saying the OWI plans instead, quote, "to use fine arts men, real artists," close quote. Whether this is true will later be debated, but what we do know is this: Ben Hibbs at the Saturday Evening Post loves the Four Freedoms concept, and after six grueling months of starts and stops, Norman delivers four oil paintings. One of a family gathered around the Thanksgiving table as a grandmother places a large turkey on it.

• 6:12Greg Jackson?

  The Freedom from Want. One of a mother lovingly tucking in soundly sleeping children, clearly unfettered by the horrors the onlooking father was just reading about in the newspaper still in his hand with a headline about bombings. The Freedom from Fear. One of earnest contemplating faces and clasped hands, but from different faiths, as indicated by a rosary in one and a book in another. The Freedom of Worship. And finally, a man standing in a crowded town hall, his lips parted in speech as the seated audience listens respectfully. Yes, Norman's 3 a.m. epiphany now on canvas. The Freedom of Speech.

• 7:11Greg Jackson?

  Welcome to History That Doesn’t Suck. I’m your professor, Greg Jackson, and I’d like to tell you a story.

• 7:32Greg Jackson?

  Published by The Post, between February and March 1943, Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms proved to be his most famous works. Moreover, with American troops coming off of grueling fighting on Guadalcanal in the Pacific, and still eating sand in their fight against the Desert Fox in North Africa, Norman’s timing couldn’t have been better. His striking oils are a vivid reminder of what this war is about, and serve as a morale-boosting, healing balm. Government agencies and publishers alike produce millions of reprints, while the Treasury Department sends the original oil paintings on tour, raising what Norman reports to be $132,992,539 worth of war bonds.

• 8:17Greg Jackson?

  Yes, Norman, I think you can and did contribute more to the US war effort with a paintbrush than a gun. That is some fine propaganda. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up. Norman Rockwell? Propaganda? Okay, before you come at me with a pitchfork like an American Gothic farmer, I assure you, I love Norman Rockwell’s work. But how do I enjoy art that I’m also calling propaganda? Let’s take a step back. What exactly is propaganda? Let’s start with the propaganda master who makes our skin crawl the most: Dr. Joseph Goebbels.

• 8:58Greg Jackson?

  We met this Nazi with a PhD in literature back in episode 184. And in 1929, he gave this definition. "Propaganda has only one object: to conquer the masses. Every means that furthers this aim is good; every means that hinders it is bad." Okay, and just who or what are the masses? Well, he clarifies this in his 1934 book, "Bow for Berlin", in which he adds that, "Masses are unformed stuff. Only in the hands of the political artists do the masses become a people, and a people, a nation."

• 9:40Greg Jackson?

  For Dr. Goble's then, propaganda is the narrative that forges a nation, and good and evil aren't questions of truth, but whether the narrative serves the cause. Yeah, gross. Conversely, Director of the US Office of War Information, Elmer Davis, yes, the same agency Norman Rockwell claims passed on his Four Freedoms posters, believes that his agency's job is to tell the truth. He believes in relying on entertainment, because when people watch a movie, quote, "They do not realize that they are being propagandized," close quote. I posit that all of this is true. Propaganda can and has been used to do great evil.

• 10:22Greg Jackson?

  But at its core, propaganda isn't about pushing good or evil. It's about pushing a narrative, which may be good or evil. And just because we might like or agree with the narrative being shared, like, say, that fighting for a democracy is right, that doesn't make it not propaganda. And so, today's tale is America's World War II propaganda. It's narrative rallying the nation to war. To that end, we'll read a comic about a new superhero ready to sockleay off in the kisser. We'll catch up with an old director friend of ours from past episodes, using the silver screen to explain why we fight.

• 11:03Greg Jackson?

  And then, using entertainment the OWI way, we'll head to a beautiful movie palace to see one of my favorite films: Casablanca. And spoiler alert: I will give away the ending, but if you haven't seen this over 80-year-old movie by now, sorry, that's on you. After Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman steal our hearts, we'll see what Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck are up to. Meet a zany joke of a soldier, teaching US servicemen what not to do by, in fact, doing it all wrong. Then encounter propaganda aimed at US soldiers but created by the Axis. These would be the broadcasts of that siren of the Pacific radio waves: Tokyo Rose.

• 11:44Greg Jackson?

  Finally, we'll wrap all of this up with a little reflection on American propaganda as a whole. Poof, posters, comics, film, radio, we've got a lot of ground to cover. So let's get to it, and we do so by heading back to shortly before the US joined this Second World War. Rewind.

• 12:09Greg Jackson?

  As we know from Episodes 188 and 189, late 1930s to early 1940s Americans are divided people when it comes to World War II. On the one hand, the America First Committee advocates for not getting sucked into another European war: for isolationism. On the other are those aligned with President Franklin Roosevelt, who believe that the nation must support the already-outwar British in their fight against a continent-gobbling dictator. But FDR isn't waging this pre-Pearl Harbor War of opinion alone. As Germany, Italy, and Japan wreak havoc, American artists, working in various mediums, can't help but join the fight. The first explicitly anti-Nazi work to grace the silver screen is the Warner Brothers

• 12:53Greg Jackson?

  film Confessions of a Nazi Spy. Made at the behest of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, the movie is a fictionalized telling of a nonetheless real Nazi spy ring uncovered in New York. It's a bold movie to make in this still isolationist year of 1939, bold enough that arson's put some theaters showing it to the flame. But comedy actor Groucho Marx has nothing but respect for the brave filmmakers behind it. He declares, "I want to propose a toast to Warner's, the only studio with any guts." This is only the start of a flood of anti-Nazi works that follow the invasion of Poland that September. In January 1940, the Three Stooges portray and mock Adolf Hitler in their short film,

• 13:38Greg Jackson?

  You Nazi Spy. In October, Charlie Chaplin rocks a toothbrush mustache as he brilliantly and not so subtly mocks the Fuhrer in the film, The Great Dictator. Moving from the silver screen to the page, Theodore Geisel, or Dr. Seuss as this children's author and political cartoonist is best known, takes one hard swing after the next at Nazism in the nation's newspapers. One such cartoon from these still isolationist years depicts a mother wearing a sweater that, in a clear nod to the isolationist America First Committee, has "America First" emblazoned on the chest. With one child seated on each side of her, the mother holds a book titled Adolf the

• 14:23Greg Jackson?

  Wolf, which the caption tells us reads, quote, "And the wolf chewed up the children and spit out the bones. But those were foreign children, and it really didn't matter." Close quote. The mother's face beams as she reads, utterly failing to note her own children's terrified expressions. But it isn't just traditional political cartoons making commentary. With a cover date of March 1941 belying his actual release date of December 1940, a new and colorful superhero is ready to take the fight to Hitler. He's the work of two Jewish artists from the Lower East Side in New York City, Joe Simon and Jacob Kurtzberg, or Jack Kirby as he prefers.

• 15:08Greg Jackson?

  This creative set, both at Timely Comics, have created a star-spangled hero who, on his very first cover, is punching the daylights out of the Fuhrer. You know what? I've got a dime. I'll buy us a copy of this first issue, so we can get lost in its fictional pages.

• 15:30Greg Jackson?

  It's an unspecified day, 1941. We're at or near a US Army base called Camp Lehigh, and General Charles Manor is just coming home from an exhausting, demoralizing day. A new bomber plane, undergoing testing, exploded into flames. No survivors. And to make matters worse, George Maxson, of the Maxson Aircraft Corporation, was there to see it. One of the loudmouths at the camp, Private Steve Rogers, thinks it was sabotage. But who knows? That's something to look into tomorrow. For now, the white-haired general, with an equally white mustache, is happy to melt into his chair by the fire and rest for the evening. Huh. What's this?

• 16:14Greg Jackson?

  A box on his desk. A gift! He opens it. It's a red skull? With a letter, no less, saying this is his... "Last night on Earth." Huh. Ridiculous. Dismissing it as a "flimsy joke", he turns around and tosses the note into the crackling fire. Just then, from the corner of the room, a hideous, taunting voice calls out: "General Manor!" The white-haired military man turns, and can hardly believe his eyes. A hideous figure, with a bright red skull, deep yellow eyes, and clammy, green hands, wearing a baggy, brown jumpsuit, with a massive, white swastika on it,

• 16:58Greg Jackson?

  stalks toward him. It's none other than the red skull. In a swift, two-panel move, the monstrous figure leaps forward, grabbing the general by the throat and pinning him to the ground. Charles Manor grasps and gasps, as his terrifying assailant cackles out: "Pier into my eyes, General. Look at death!"

• 17:21Greg Jackson?

  It's already over. But one panel later, the swastika-wearing skull stands over the general's uniformed corpse, still cackling. As the red skull crosses the name "General Manor" off a list, the deceased officer's wife enters. The hideous brute shows no remorse as he mocks the sorrowful woman and tosses her across the room. All appears hopeless. But then, like an angry tornado, as the pink-colored caption box tells us, a savior dies into the frame, tackling the red skull with power and fury. It's the once frail young man turned into a hero by a super-soldier serum at the start of this comic: the one and only Captain America.

• 18:05Greg Jackson?

  Wielding a striped and star-spangled triangular shield, the muscular, chiseled freedom fighter in red, white, and blue now goes head-to-head with this velvet villain. Oh no! The red skull has him and is forcing Captain America to look into his eyes. But just then, another figure appears on the scene, delivering a hard kick to the red skull. It's our hero's sidekick, Bucky! Freed from the evil clutches of the red skull, Cap is back in action. He delivers one punch after another, and then... Pow! He punches the red skull so hard, the hideous red mask shatters. The mask falls away, revealing the red skull's true identity. It's none other than George Maxim,

• 18:49Greg Jackson?

  the maker of the plane that was sabotaged earlier today. But he won't be caught alive. George rolls over on his own deadly hypodermic needle.

• 19:00Greg Jackson?

  Cap and Bucky leave. The FBI's G-Men arrive to find a letter addressed to George Maxim, alias "The Red Skull." That explains everything. It reads: "When America is within the fold of the Great Reich, the post of Minister of All-American Industry shall be the reward of your excellent spy work." And it's signed, "The Fuhrer." And so, the red skull's defeated. Steve Rogers and Bucky are relaxing back at Camp Lehigh. Nonetheless, the duo's fight against Adolf has only begun. As the last panel tells us, "But the work of Captain America is never done."

• 19:43Greg Jackson?

  As they plunge into new exploits against America's enemies. Watch for the next issue.

• 19:52Greg Jackson?

  Captain America catapults to fame, right up there with Batman and Superman, both of whom are also turning their eyes to the European conflict. And hey, I hope you aren't too disappointed that we didn't get to see Cap actually slug Hitler in those pages. Alas, as any comic fan will tell you, the cover isn't canon. But that does bring up a problem that comics will face throughout the whole war. Why can't these superheroes just end the war? Well, Captain America is a human with super strength, so putting him anywhere in Europe, the Pacific, or the States to dodge bullets is no problem. Superman is trickier. His comic writers have to find reasons to keep Superman in the fight, winning it, but

• 20:37Greg Jackson?

  not ending it. They have Clark Kent attempt to enlist, accidentally use his x-ray vision during the eye exam, and get dismissed for terrible vision. Uh, sure, that works. As we heard about in the previous episode, once the war effort begins back home, these superheroes begin selling bonds and stamps, encouraging Americans to do the same. Even after Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and a young nobody named Stanley Lieber, or Stan Lee to use a perhaps more familiar name, enlist, their comic creations remain central to morale, both on the home front and the actual front. Meanwhile, Hollywood is only going deeper into the fray, and I'm not just talking about

• 21:22Greg Jackson?

  its entertainment. I mean that in a literal way. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the US Army takes steps to ensure it can protect the California coast from any similar Japanese aerial attacks by requisitioning Walt Disney's studio lot in Burbank, California, to use as an anti-aircraft base.

• 21:44Greg Jackson?

  But fun as that quirky example of a Disney defensive position might be, Hollywood studios are serving the war effort far more by doing what they do best: making movies. This is particularly true as US Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall seeks to educate Uncle Sam's GIs. As the military recruits and relies on the draft, he knows that these new soldiers need more than orders. They need to understand why they're fighting, why they're sacrificing. But even as George makes textbooks covering US history, civics, democracy, and international relations widely available to the rake and file, he thinks that film might be a more universal, more dramatic way to convey all of this.

• 22:28Greg Jackson?

  And so, he looks to a filmmaker who can help Americans understand why we fight. It's the morning of an unspecified day, somewhere between late February and early March 1942. Following an escort, a square-jawed movie director with slick, black hair, and a recent commission, Frank Capra, walks through what he calls "The Labyrinth Ways of the Pentagon." Yes, that Frank. It's been a while since we first met him in episode 118, as a sick and scared kid arriving from Italy at Ellis Island. But he's all grown up now. One of the biggest names in Hollywood, the recipient of multiple Academy Awards.

• 23:13Greg Jackson?

  But none of that steadies him today. It's Mr. Frank Capra, not his fictional Mr. Smith, who's now gone to Washington. And not to deal with Congress, but with someone far more intimidating: US Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall. As instructed, Frank steps inside George's office. Seated at his large wooden desk with lion head drawers, the white-haired, blue-eyed Chief of Staff only gives him a quick look. Dry mouth, Frank manages to eke out, "Major Capra, sir." As he sits, the filmmaker can't help but imagine casting George as a serious-minded oaky living through the last decade's Dust Bowl.

• 23:54Greg Jackson?

  Finally, George sets down his pen, now turning his intense concentration on Frank. He gets straight to the point. Mr. Capra, you have an opportunity to contribute enormously to your country and the cause of freedom. Are you aware of that, sir? Remembering an earlier directive from his escort to "shoot straight with few words," Frank blurts out: "Well, General Marshall, I mean if you're asking me, does it scare the heck out of me? I'll have to say, yes, sir, it does." George doesn't break into a smile, but he cracks a little. The general then explains more fully: "Within a short time, we will have a huge citizens' army in which civilians will outnumber

• 24:38Greg Jackson?

  professional soldiers by some fifty to one. What is in question is this: will young, free-willing American boys take the iron discipline of wartime? In my judgment, the answer is yes, if they are given the answers as to why they are in uniform, and if the answers they are given are worth fighting and dying for. I want to nail down with you a plan to make a series of documented factual information films that will explain to our boys in the army why we are fighting and the principles for which we are fighting." Frank replies cautiously: "General Marshall, it's only fair to tell you that I have never before made a single

• 25:21Greg Jackson?

  documentary film. In fact, I've never even been near anybody that's made one, Capra. I have never been chief of staff before. Thousands of young Americans have never had their legs shot off before. Boys are commanding ships today who a year ago had never seen the ocean before. I'm sorry, sir. I'll make you the best damned documentary films ever made." And with that response, the white-haired general finally cracks a real smile. "I'm sure you will."

• 25:58Greg Jackson?

  You know, I have to say, I love George Marshall's observation that "free-wheeling American boys will take to the iron discipline of wartime if they are given answers as to why they are in uniform." He's basically saying the same thing that we heard the Revolutionary War's legendary drill master Baron von Steuben say about Continental soldiers back in episode 10. Quote, "The genius of this nation is not in the least to be compared with that of the Prussians, Austrians, or French. You say to a soldier, 'Do this,' and he doeth it. But I am obliged to say, 'This is the reason that you ought to do that.'" And then he does it. Close quote.

• 26:44Greg Jackson?

  Huh. 170 years later, and US military leaders are still finding that the American people hold a deep sense of personal freedom, yet have a willingness to step up and serve if the cause is just. Well, Frank sets out to prove the cause is just. Watching Lenny Riefenstahl's pro-Nazi film Triumph of the Will, just as we did in episode 184, Frank intends, he tells us, to "use the enemy's own films to expose their enslaving ends." He means that literally. Relying on 3 million feet of Axis footage, Frank cuts and splices the foe's own work into his seven-part documentary series, Why We Fight.

• 27:32Greg Jackson?

  The first film, Prelude to War, explains the path to this conflict, highlighting both the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the German invasion of Poland. Using footage of marching German troops, our narrator, the ironically Canadian-born Walter Houston, asks:

• 27:49Speaker 01

  Why are we Americans on the march?

• 27:53Speaker 01

  Is it because of...

• 27:55Greg Jackson?

  Explosions then roar amid footage of Axis attacks on Pearl Harbor and Allied nations.

• 28:01Greg Jackson?

  The film ends with an answer to why we fight that couldn't be more clear. Speaking as a world map engulfed by swastikas and the rays of the Japanese rising sun fill the screen, then cutting to images of Emperor Hirohito, Adolf Hitler, and Benito Mussolini, and scenes of the evil they've caused: destroyed homes, working camps, book burnings, war, and more. The narrator tells the watching soldiers:

• 28:28Speaker 01

  For this is what we are fighting: freedom's oldest enemy, the passion of the few to rule the many. This isn't just a war. This is a common man's life-and-death struggle against those who had put him back into slavery. We lose it, and we lose everything: our homes, the jobs we want to go back to, the books we read, the very food we eat, the hopes we have for our kids, the kids themselves. They won't be ours anymore.

• 29:04Speaker 01

  That's what's at stake. It's us, or them. The chips are down. Two worlds stand against each other. One must die,

• 29:16Speaker 01

  one must live. One hundred and seventy years of freedom decrees our answer.

• 29:37Greg Jackson?

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• 30:21Greg Jackson?

  They even offer the same incredible quality in bath essentials, bedding, and home furnishings. Find your next fall favorites at Quince. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know that it was history that doesn't suck. It's the best way to support the show.

• 30:55Greg Jackson?

  The troops are thoroughly inspired by Frank Capra's films. But what about the rest of America? After all, civilians back home need to know that the possible death of a brother, father, husband, or son is for a worthy cause. And Hollywood's ready to help with that messaging, too. Pivoting away from films that could be read as anti-war, like 1939's Gone with the Wind, which is filled with post-Civil War devastation, since old town cranks out movies focused on the terrible necessity of war, like 1941's Sergeant York. Yes, as in Alvin York, the God-fearing, pacifist doughboy, whose both shooting and POW capturing

• 31:37Greg Jackson?

  bravery during World War I garnered a Medal of Honor, as you likely recall from episode 143. At the insistence of the real Sergeant York, Hollywood's leading man, Gary Cooper, portrays Alvin, teaching the public that, despite the terrible price of war, fighting men and death are both necessary to achieve peace. The role lands Gary an Academy Award for Best Actor. Now, pro-war propaganda isn't Hollywood acting entirely alone. Uncle Sam has a guiding hand in the process. Formed on June 13, 1942, the Office of War Information, or the OWI for short, has previously unprecedented control over what hits America's theaters.

• 32:20Greg Jackson?

  Under its guiding hand, American media, ranging from the radio to the press and film, are expected to perform the duty of both informing and inspiring the public.

• 32:32Greg Jackson?

  Oh, and is film important? As OWI director Elmer Davis puts it, "The movie industry is 'the most powerful instrument of propaganda in the world,' whether it tries to be or not." It's hard to argue with the statement. Hollywood cranks out 500 films annually while raking in about $80 million per week. The OWI keeps a watch on all of Tinseltown's entertaining offerings, including, or perhaps especially, those storytelling films about the war, like "Atlantic Convoy," "Army Surgeon," and "Wake Island." Nor is this watchful office hesitant to offer... suggestions.

• 33:13Greg Jackson?

  For example, Paramount's "So Proudly We Hail" about the Siege of Baton returns from the OWI with a note that the dying army nurse should have a line about how the Japanese spread like a disease. That said, the OWI's hand isn't as strong as all of this might sound. In fact, Hollywood faces fewer restrictions than most wartime industries. As long as a movie doesn't give away military secrets, studios can, in theory, ignore such notes and release what the office deems "ill-conceived atrocities." And sometimes they do. For instance, Paramount's "Lucky Jordan," which tells the tale of a draft-dodging thief

• 33:54Greg Jackson?

  inspired to repent of his ways and join the cause after some Nazi spies beat up a sweet grandmother. The OWI expresses concern, fearing that the audience will come away thinking the only reason to fight the Nazis is because they're mean to grandmothers, not core ideological differences. Yeah, Paramount's execs lose zero sleep about this one. They release the film anyway. All that to say, whether OWI influenced or not, 1940s Hollywood ensures that the message of "Sticking It to Old Adolf" and the rest of the Axis powers comes across in everything. From the dark dramas "The Moon is Down" and "Hingmen Also Die," to Irving Berlin's "Armed Forces Musical: This is the Army."

• 34:39Greg Jackson?

  Enough talk about the movies. Let's watch one. Come on. I've already got us tickets for a hot new Warner Brothers flick.

• 34:50Greg Jackson?

  It's just before noon, Thanksgiving Day, November 26th, 1942. Showing our tickets to the attendant, we're just stepping into the beautiful Hollywood Theater on 51st and Broadway in New York City. Soon, we enter the foyer, and to say the space is gorgeous is an understatement. Awashed in red and gold, this foyer is a massive Baroque meets Rococo-style three-story rotunda, encircled by eight fluted columns leading to a cherub-filled ceiling mural with a breathtaking chandelier. Nor does the auditorium itself disappoint. Excuse me. Oh, please, back to you.

• 35:29Greg Jackson?

  Again, rich red, gilded gold and columns, yes, and now, even more ceiling murals and a still more opulent chandelier. But also, there are some 1,600 multi-tiered seats. Truly, this Warner Brothers-owned theater doesn't only show art on the screen, it is a work of art itself. Oh, this is our aisle. I know, the guy inhaling popcorn will just have to pull his legs in. We're in the center orchestra. Anyhow, this is the premiere of the newest Warner Brothers film, Casablanca. The plot revolves around a love triangle, a Nazi collaborationist Vichy French Morocco. Now, it wasn't supposed to come out until next spring, but as we know from episode

• 36:12Greg Jackson?

  200, Dwight Eisenhower and the boys landed on the shores of Vichy French-controlled North Africa this very month, November 1942. Yeah, Operation Torch. So Warner Brothers couldn't let that perfect PR alignment pass them by. They bumped up the release, and the New York City-based French liberation organizations, France Forever and the Fighting French Relief Committee, couldn't be more delighted as sponsors of the premiere. Ah, here are our seats. And perfect timing. The movie is starting.

• 36:45Greg Jackson?

  As the opening credits fill the screen, "Ma Se Yez" fills our ears. Yes, the French national anthem, or rather, the anthem of France's fallen Third Republic. A martial air from the Revolution of 1789, its lyrics literally call on French citizens to take up arms against the ferocious soldiers of tyranny, slay them, and let these villains "impure blood water the fields of a free France." Little wonder that it's banned in "Occupied" and "Vichy France." Without even uttering a word, the film has already declared itself "pro-liberté, égalité, fraternité," and anti-Nazi.

• 37:25Greg Jackson?

  We now watch as the world spins toward Europe. An omnipotent narrator tells us that, "With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turn hopefully or desperately toward the freedom of the Americas." Closing in on Paris, the map fades to a montage of travelers. Lisbon, the narrator tells us, is the embarkation point to freedom in the New World, but refugees must travel a circuitous path first. "Paris to Marseille, across the Mediterranean to Iran, then by train, or auto, or foot, across the rim of Africa to Casablanca and French Morocco." Ah, that's Nazi-aligned "Vichy French Morocco," and Casablanca, which isn't just the jumping

• 38:08Greg Jackson?

  point to Lisbon, but a city renowned for its corruption, pickpockets, and rapidly shifting allegiances. These realities are quickly reinforced as we learn that two German couriers, carrying letters of transit, have been murdered. These unassigned letters, that mysteriously enable their bearer to fly from Casablanca to Lisbon, even against the Nazi or Vichy regime's wishes, serve as our plot device. And against this background, leading authorities descend upon the most popular nightclub in this dishonest city: Rick's Café American. These include our villain, Nazi Major Heinrich Strasser, and a more middle-ground character: the local police captain, a Frenchman as opportunistic and amorally witty as he is

• 38:53Greg Jackson?

  charming: Louis Renaud.

• 38:57Greg Jackson?

  A sweeping montage displays the club's drinking, gambling, and black-market clientele. And then, we meet him: our protagonist, Rick Blaine. Played by the not-so-tall, but dark and dashingly handsome Humphrey Bogart, Rick is quickly established as a man who never gets too close to anyone or anything. He doesn't drink with customers. Women swoon for him, never the other way around. But is there more to Rick than his cold exterior lets on? As Louis tells Rick that resistance fighter Victor Laszlo and his beautiful companion must not be permitted to flee, cool, confident Rick asks with a cigarette in hand: "Louis, whatever gave you the impression that I might be interested in helping Laszlo

• 39:42Greg Jackson?

  escape?" The colorful captain answers: "Because, my dear Ricky, I expected that under that cynical shell, you're at heart a sentimentalist." He then cites some of Rick's pre-war work: arming the Ethiopians against fascist Italy, fighting against fascism in Spain. Hmm, I sense foreshadowing.

• 40:04Greg Jackson?

  Things move quickly. The desperate Ugarte entrusts Rick with the letters of transit, those carried by the dead couriers, then is immediately arrested. Meanwhile, into the club walks Victor Laszlo, accompanied by a woman who stops Rick's loyal pianist Sam Cold, played by Hollywood's legendary brunette beauty Ingrid Bergman. This is Il Solide, the love of Rick's life in pre-Nazi Paris. We now have our love triangle. After a tense, awkward meeting between all parties: the Nazi major, the French captain, the resistance fighter, Rick, and the woman who clearly still loves and remains loved by both of the latter, Rick sits alone at his bar.

• 40:47Greg Jackson?

  He casually mentions, it's December 1941, and without him ever uttering the words Pearl Harbor, we can't help but wonder about its impact on this lonely American. As we stew on this, our handsome, white-tux-wearing protagonist despondently utters one of his many famous lines: "Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine."

• 41:12Greg Jackson?

  A flashback shows us Rick and Ilsa madly in love in Paris. Until the day the city fell, when she vanished, leaving only a cryptic note saying she wasn't coming to the train station. We'll learn why later. Back in the present, Rick has the letters of transit, but won't give them to the woman who shattered his heart. The tension builds. Rick rigs his roulette table to help a desperate refugee couple win their way out of Casablanca. Ah, another glimpse of his buried humanity. Disappointed that he can't take advantage of the woman, now that she and her husband have money, Louis charges over to Rick. As I suspected, you're a rank sentimentalist.

• 41:54Greg Jackson?

  Victor Laszlo now approaches Rick privately, asking for those letters. He cites the same pre-war evidence of Rick's goodness Louis raised earlier. Rick remains unmoved. He wants to hurt Ilsa the way she hurt him. But their conversation is interrupted by drinking Nazis singing "Vivante à la Rhine". It's an old German song celebrating German valor against the French in their age-old fight over lands along the Rhine River. To sing this here, in French Morocco, is a naked act of dominance. Victor won't have it. Marching over to the band, the resistance leader demands they play the forbidden French national anthem, "La Marseillaise".

• 42:38Greg Jackson?

  The band looks over to Rick, who oh so subtly nods. The band plays. Victor sings at the top of his lungs. The Nazis respond by singing all the louder. But the club's international clientele, refugees, robes, the morally adrift, none of them can take it any longer. In a surge of anti-Nazi patriotism, they rise to their feet and drown the Germans out. Defeated on the field of melodic battle, the Germans sit. The camera then finds Yvonne, a mostly background character with tears streaming, real tears. The tears of an actual French actress and refugee playing a refugee, and as the singing

• 43:22Greg Jackson?

  ends, she cries out: Vive la France! Vive la démocratie!

• 43:30Greg Jackson?

  In the scenes that follow, Rick sacrifices everything, sending Ilsa and Victor to Lisbon with the letters, shooting Major Strauss, seemingly dooming himself, all with the most quotable lines in American cinema, including "Here's looking at you, kid." And just as Rick seems destined for a concentration camp, a morally charming Louis finds his soul. He saves Rick, calls him not only a sentimentalist but a patriot, and punctuates his own conversion by dropping a bottle of water labeled "Vichy" in the trash with disgust. As the two walk off into the night, Rick exclaims, "Louis, I think this is the beginning of

• 44:14Greg Jackson?

  a beautiful friendship." And behind them what plays? That same tyranny-smashing martial air so hated by Nazi Germany, so central to this entire film: La Marseillaise.

• 44:31Greg Jackson?

  Wow, that was a great movie! I bet it's a real contender for Best Picture next year at the Oscars. But Hollywood isn't just boosting the war effort on the big screen, it's also enlisting. By the end of 1942, about 4,000 film workers, or roughly 22% of studio employees, have joined the armed forces. Of the 900 actors swelling the service's ranks, you might recognize some names, like Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart, and, within the first weeks of 1943, Paul Newman. While some of these men will serve on the battlefield, or in the skies in Jimmy Stewart's case, many work to bolster morale, doing traveling performances both stateside and overseas.

• 45:15Greg Jackson?

  Comedian Bob Hope discovers that he loves performing for the troops so much that he will continue to do comedy shows for them well after the war is over. Of course, some of the biggest morale boosts come from women like Betty Grable and Rita Hayworth, whose pinups decorate the front of planes and almost every American soldier's tent from North Africa to Midway.

• 45:38Greg Jackson?

  But Betty Grable isn't the only star decorating the front of airplanes. That honor also goes to Donald Duck. That's right, animation studios are hard at work pumping out cartoons. Warner Brothers Bugs Bunny sings Irvin Berlin's parody of his own song, "Any Yams Today", which the famous songwriter has now turned into "Any Bonds Today". At the same time, Walt Disney Studios supplements its less-than-stellar box office returns from Fantasia with war films like "Four Methods of Flesh Riveting" and "The Thrifty Pig". More importantly, they do the animation for Frank Capra's "Why We Fight" series. And to really get butts in seats, they toss in Donald Duck.

• 46:19Greg Jackson?

  As Walt himself puts it, quote, "At our studio, that's the equivalent of giving you Clark Gable. Donald Duck is known by the American public. He'll open doors to theaters", close quote. Donald has many war-driven adventures. In "The New Spirit", he learns his patriotic duty. It's essentially the same plot as Frank's prelude to war, but hey, if it works, it works. In "The Führer's Face", a short that uses Spike Jonze and his city slicker's rendition of the song by the same name, Donald unhappily lives under the Nazi regime, working in an artillery factory, hiling every picture of Hitler on a conveyor belt, and reading Mein Kampf at gunpoint every night.

• 47:02Greg Jackson?

  And in "Spirit of Forty-Three", to justify higher taxes to pay for the war effort, Donald is confronted and asked if he wants to "forget our fighting men". To this, America's beloved animated duck replies, "No, sir", as our narrator reminds us that "Every dollar you spend for something you don't need is a dollar spent to help the Axis." But some of the most popular animated shorts aren't meant for the eyes of John Q. Public. Soldiers have a lot to learn, and who better to teach them than the worst animated soldier in the whole US Army?

• 47:52Greg Jackson?

  It's no particular day, but sometime in 1943. We could be at any one of hundreds of theaters, auditoriums, rec. centers, or chapels with projector screens on any military base from Mountain Home, Idaho, to Des Moines, Iowa, or, say, the single-story theater building FA 946 at Fort Berry in Sausalito, California. Soldiers are piling in, ready for some news and entertainment. The soldiers quiet down as the projector fires up. No, this isn't a featured film. It's a series of shorts and newsreels, provided by the Army-Navy Screen Magazine. Right now, the men are getting news from abroad.

• 48:34Greg Jackson?

  It's exciting to be able to see actual footage from the war. But as they watch, anticipation builds for the Private Snafu cartoon. Yes, "snafu," meaning, as we learned in episode 201, "situation normal, all fouled up." Yeah, the men get a good laugh at that definition. They all know the "other" word. So who is this unfortunately-named cartoon character? Created by Major Frank Capra, drawn by the Warner Brothers Animation Team, same folks that make Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, and written, or at least early on, by none other than Theodore Geisel, or Dr. Seuss if you prefer. Private Snafu is, as his name implies, the goofiest, most inept, incapable joke of

• 49:19Greg Jackson?

  a servicemember in the US military. He's hilarious, but more than that, Private Snafu is actually military education hidden in entertainment. The men cheer as the screen fills with a shorn-headed, big-eared soldier in a loose-fitting uniform bounding away from base, telling us in rhyme.

• 49:47Speaker 02

  I just learned a secret. It's a honey, it's a pip. But the enemy is listening, so I'll never let it slip. 'Cause when I learn a secret, boy, I zipper up my lip.

• 49:59Greg Jackson?

  The men laugh as Private Snafu turns into a silhouette, displaying his bologna loaf of a brain wrapped in a chain with a padlock. Even this inept soldier with half a brain can keep a secret, it seems. But as he skips into town, everything, from cats to horses and lamp posts, turn out to be hiding posts for the Axis Powers' evil-looking spies. They know Snafu's got a secret, and they're going to find it out. Inadvertently giving hints about his secret as he struts about town, our half-wit of a private stops at a bar. Raising a shot and a toast, Snafu assures us.

• 50:37Speaker 02

  I'm a sound and silent soldier, just as steady as a rock. Here's to my little secret with its chain and padlock.

• 50:46Greg Jackson?

  Tossing the shot aside for the whole bottle instead, Snafu silhouettes again. As liquor fills his insides, a vapor rises to that bologna brain, melting the chain and padlock, and unzipping his big mouth. He hits on a beautiful blonde and mentions shipping out to Africa. Wait, a blonde? Yes, a German spy. But inebriated Snafu doesn't realize it even as she sends a message to Adolf Hitler himself. We next see our drunken private, covered in lipstick marks, with his femme fatale sitting on his lap. He stammers out to her.

• 51:25Speaker 02

  It's been a wonderful evening, and I'd like to say some more. But I gotta get a move on now. I gotta sail to half that shore.

• 51:35Greg Jackson?

  An X-ray reveals her bra doubles as a swastika-covered Nazi radio transmitter. Snafu's been booby-trapped. And the message again goes to Adolf. The enemy has all they need now. As Snafu sits on board the ship the next day, Nazi U-boats suddenly appear. Ah! They fired torpedoes! The ship manages to escape, but not Snafu. He's fallen overboard. Encircled by the U-boat fleet, he's struck by a fury of torpedoes and blown straight to hell. Inside a boiling pot in the fiery afterlife, Snafu asks the audience.

• 52:12Speaker 02

  Now who in hell's body was it that let my secret out?

• 52:17Greg Jackson?

  A horned Hitler paws in next to him and holds up a mirror. Snafu sees himself, but then, his reflection changes. It becomes the backside of a horse. Yes, a horse's ass. Because that's what a drinking, loose-lipped serviceman is. What more is there to say, but that's all for this.

• 52:42Greg Jackson?

  I'm sure you can see how Private Snafu was a huge hit with American trainees. And while the US Armed Forces have to teach their troops how to not get killed, and how to protect valuable information, Uncle Sam's continuing to teach his boys not only how, but why they're fighting. That's right, Frank Capra's still at it with his Why We Fight series. And beyond explaining the need to protect democracy, he's also tasked with introducing soldiers and sailors to their enemies. While the two films about Germany and Japan won't be released until 1945, it's pretty clear that America's made a distinction between the two major Axis powers from the get-go. Here is Germany, provides a "call to action", emphasizing the commonality between the Germans and Americans,

• 53:28Greg Jackson?

  and perpetrating the trope of the "good German". It encourages troops to "uproot" a culture of violence and aggression in Germany, to help reform the German people in order to join the society of man. On the flip side, know your enemy, Japan, systematically strips away parts of Japanese culture that Americans may deem as "civilized", in order to help troops not feel guilty about waging war. Frank employs constant reminders of what he frames as Japan's barbaric Mongol heritage, suggesting that Japanese society functions as it did in the Middle Ages, even though the country is technically modernized. The narrative warps traditional Japanese religious practices into war-mongering beliefs. Yeah, I trust you can see the difference here.

• 54:14Greg Jackson?

  But none of this is to say that the Axis don't propagandize right back. We heard about Dr. Joseph Gobles and the Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda in previous episodes, and Japan acts similarly, promoting its own national interest in occupied territories. But the most well-known form of propaganda out of Japan is actually meant directly for American soldiers. I think it's about time for us to tune in our radios and listen to the famous Tokyo Rose.

• 54:45Greg Jackson?

  It's about 6:00 in the evening, Monday, August 14, 1944. We're on the beaches of the island of Guadalcanal, an island in the Solomon Islands. Yes, we'll most definitely talk more about this small patch of land in the Pacific later, but for now, all we need to know is that we're joining US Marine Don Heibner at a supply base on this small Pacific island. With the sun setting on his workday, it's time to crack open a can of Spam. And out of the loudspeakers placed in the high palm trees, the radio crackles out the familiar tones for the start of these Marines' most hated and enjoyed program: Zero Hour. I say we're with Don in Guadalcanal, but we could just as easily be with the chief

• 55:28Greg Jackson?

  radio man, J.M. Eichberg, onboard the Sargo-class submarine USS Seawolf, or on the Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Franklin with Captain James Shoemaker, or almost any place with a radio in the Pacific. Just about every sailor, soldier, and Marine in the Pacific listens to this most notorious DJ, known as Tokyo Rose.

• 55:52Greg Jackson?

  Okay, timeout. Let's get some context. Tokyo Rose is what the Allied forces call several different female radio personalities broadcasting for the Japanese, mainly on Radio Tokyo's program, The Zero Hour, intentionally attempting to demoralize Allied soldiers. The program plays popular American tunes like "Speak To Me Of Love" and "Love's Old Sweet Song," but the hosts also make sure to ask the men aboard these ships, or on the beaches, if they're willing to die so far from home, covered in mud and mosquitoes. They tell these American boys that their girls back home have been unfaithful. They brag about the strong Japanese army that will never surrender, and they always

• 56:34Greg Jackson?

  report on the number of Allied ships sunk by the Japanese fleet. Starved for a female voice and happy to ascribe all sorts of sexy attributes to the unseen announcer, the men don't find the propaganda believable or demoralizing enough to pass on good music and active imaginations. As our marine Don Heebner puts it, “Tropical moonlight affected all of us to the utmost, and we young bucks yearn for feminine companionship during those long balmy nights.” Similar personalities broadcast everywhere. Germany has Axis Sally and Lord Ha Ha. The poet Ezra Pound broadcasts for fascists on Radio Rome.

• 57:15Greg Jackson?

  Similar to Lord Ha Ha, Tokyo Rose is not any single person and is mostly a myth, but the woman who most closely embodies her is Eva Taguri. Eva was born in LA in 1916 and enrolled at UCLA in 1940, but she left for Japan in July 1941. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, she elected to stay in Japan for the duration of the war. In November 1943, she began her job with Radio Tokyo as a typist. Meanwhile, the Japanese took three POWs with a broadcasting background: an Australian named Major Charles Cuzins, an American Ted Entz, and a Filipino Norman Reyes.

• 57:57Greg Jackson?

  All three were tortured and forced to put their broadcasting experience to use running the propaganda program Zero Hour for Radio Tokyo. The head of the program, Charles Cuzins, decided to maliciously comply by making a program where all the obvious propaganda is placed in one single segment, and the rest is all pleasant music and reading letters from POWs. In a real Hogan's Heroes plan, they insist on using the instrumental opening to the song “Strike Up the Band” and ask the audience to sing along. The Japanese don't know the song, but every soldier happily sings. “There is work to be done, there's a war to be won. Come on, you son of a gun, take your stand.”

• 58:39Greg Jackson?

  Iva is elevated from typist to DJ because the Japanese think her American accent will make soldiers homesick, dreaming of the girls they left behind. She gets the name Orphan Anne, or Annie, after the American cartoon character, later claiming to take the name because she also feels homeless between Japan and America. She takes to calling her listeners "my favorite orphans," a choice that is oddly morbid and works against her at her future trial. But with that background, why don't we listen in for ourselves? Let's break away from the beaches and instead head to the broadcast room of Radio Tokyo and see one of Iva's turns at the mic.

• 59:17Greg Jackson?

  It's still 6:00 in the evening, August 14th, 1944, but now we're in Studio 5 of Radio Tokyo. Sitting across from Charles Cusens at a table with their scripts ready to speak into the microphone placed before them, Ted Ince and Norman Reyes are set up to drop records on cue. From a window, Japanese authorities watch over them. And so, Charles starts off the broadcast with the usual propaganda that he's placed purposefully here at the top.

• 59:48Speaker 03

  On the Indio Burma Front, the Japanese forces inflicted tremendous blows on the enemy troops of over 30,000 in battles around Mitikina. Within a period of five months up to the end of July, the enemy suffered the loss of more than 15,000 men, including those killed, wounded, and taken prisoner.

• 1:00:08Greg Jackson?

  When Charles says "enemy," in this instance, keep in mind he's talking about Allied troops. That sounds really bad, 15,000 troops lost. And it's not very far from the truth, but keep in mind that Radio Tokyo won't be reporting on the nearly 85,000 Japanese troops that died from disease, losing the fight to the Indian Army. Okay, that's enough news. Let's hear from the famed Tokyo Rose.

• 1:00:33Speaker 04

  Hello, you fighting orphans of the Pacific. How's Jig? This is after her weekend, Annie, back on the air strictly under UNO. Is that you know Kay? Well, it better be, because this is all request night. The first request is made by none other than the boss. And guess what? He wants Bonnie Baker.

• 1:01:07Speaker 04

  A second request is sent in by a Roman-born head of an orphan. Uh, he wants Tony Martin of all people to help him forget the mosquitoes and dirty rifles. Well, you know, a blind Jean Annie. Tony Martin, and now it can be told.

• 1:01:41Greg Jackson?

  That's how these broadcasts go. Occasionally, you'll hear mention of things like mosquitoes and dirty laundry, or sadness over being away from home. But mostly, it's Iva introducing songs. After the war, public outrage over Tokyo Rose leads to her trial. Charles, Ted, and Norman testify on her behalf, but Iva is convicted of treason and sentenced to ten years at the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, West Virginia. President Gerald Ford will pardon her in 1977, and she'll manage her father's shop in Chicago until her death in 2006 at the age of 90.

• 1:02:21Greg Jackson?

  So, we've come to the end of our tale of America's World War II propaganda. A tale of the US effort to harness movies, comics, cartoons, and more for the war effort. This really is total war, and every nation, allied and axis alike, is doing their best to convince their citizens to buy their side's narrative. But as we reflect and close, I do think that, when it comes to propaganda, there's one final distinction worth making between the Nazi regime's amoralism and the United States' heavy lean on entertainment. Dr. Joseph Goebbels had the power of a totalitarian state behind him. But in the United States, the OWI couldn't stop or change

• 1:03:04Greg Jackson?

  all works of art or media that it disapproved of. Norman Rockwell tossed and turned in the night with an idea on his own accord. Frank Capra volunteered. The artists, writers, and filmmakers, the entertaining men and women who made Captain America come to life and brought us to tears in a gin joint in North Africa. They personally believed in the American story, in liberty, in democracy, in the Four Freedoms. And that belief is precisely what made their work so damn effective. The best propaganda doesn’t feel like propaganda. And the reason America’s WWII propaganda so often clears that bar is that, for many

• 1:03:46Greg Jackson?

  of the people making it, it wasn’t propaganda at all. It was conviction. And I suppose that’s why I love Norman Rockwell’s Four Freedoms and Warner Brothers’ Casablanca. Because I share their conviction. I can own that bias. Vive la démocratie! But in the name of that very conviction, we can’t give America a pass on all of its war propaganda. There’s a dark side, too. One built on racist stereotypes intended to dehumanize the Japanese people so thoroughly as to justify not only war abroad, but internment at home. Yes, next time, we’ll starkly face one of America’s greatest failures of WWII and

• 1:04:29Greg Jackson?

  the 20th century: Japanese internment.

• 1:04:38Greg Jackson?

  History That Doesn’t Suck is created and hosted by me, Greg Jackson. Episode researched and written by Greg Jackson and Will King. Executive editor, Riley Newbauer. Recording of La Marseillese, generously provided by Mediatheque Musica de Paris, Christiane et d’Apierre, Ville de Paris. Production by Airship. Audio editing by Mohamed Shazadeh. Sound design by Molly Bach. Theme music composed by Greg Jackson. Arrangement and additional composition by Lindsey Graham of Airship. For bibliography of all primary and secondary sources consulted in writing this episode, visit htdspodcast.com.

• 1:05:24Greg Jackson?

  HTDS is supported by fans at HTDSPodcast.com/membership. My gratitude to you kind souls for providing funding to help us keep going. Thank you. And a special thanks to our patrons whose monthly gift puts them at producer status. Adam Goran, Ahmed Chapman, Amy and Ross Henson, Andrew Nissen, Andrew Sherwin, Anna M. Huta, Art Lane, Baby Nico, Bob Stinnet, Bonnie Brooks, Ryan Gavigan, Ryan Boils, Brian Goodson, Bruce Hibbert, Kayden Howitz, Charles Clendenin, Charles Starkey, Charlie Majes, Christopher Merchant, Christopher Lyle, Christopher Pullman, Christopher Young, Cody Brown, Colleen Martin, Colin Ferris Pennington, Connor Hogan, Craig Burhost, Dan G., Daniel

• 1:06:05Greg Jackson?

  Beecham, Daniel L. Kana, Darren Chambers, Daryl the Kid Lovell, David Rifkin, Dean Heiser, Donte Spencer, Donald Moore, Eli Edwards, Elizabeth Chris Janson, Ellen Stewart, Ernesto Franco, Ernie Lomaster, Ethan Lowery, Evan Thompson, G2303, Jeffrey Nelson, George J. Sherwood, Gareth Griffin, Gina Johnson, Gordon Garwood, Henry Brunges, Holly Hamilton, Jake Gilbreth, James Bledsoe, James Blue, James Schlender, Jarrett Zangora, Jeffrey Moots, Jennifer Minjioni, Jennifer Ruth, Jessica Poppin, Joe Dobis, John Booby, John Frugal Dugal, John Huber, John Messmer, John Oliveros, John Radlavich, John Schaefer,

• 1:06:45Greg Jackson?

  Jonathan Schaff, Jordan Corbett, Joseph Curry, Joshua Steiner, Julian Wright, Justin Tolman, Karen Bartholomew, Carl Freedman, Carl Romer, Ken Culver, Kim R., Kimberly Pruitt, Kristen Kraft, Kyle Decker, L. Paul Goringer, Laura Norman, Lawrence Newbauer, Linda Cunningham, Mark D. Worrell, Mark Ellis, Marcia Smith, Mason Glenn, Matt Siegel, Michael Longus, Michael Sullivan, Nick Cafrell, Nicholas Powell, Owen W. Sedlak, Paul Huguenroth, Philip May, Randy Keen, Rich Ruckel, Rick Brown, Rob Dravovic, Robert Shelton, Brock Gay, Ryan Fogelman, Sam Holtzman, Sarah Prescott, Sarah Traywood, Scott Hurst, Shane Smith,

• 1:07:24Greg Jackson?

  Shannon Hoagland, Sharon Feasen, Sean Baines, Sean Collins, Stacy Ritter, Steve Williams, The Creepy Girl, Thomas Churchill, Thomas Matthew Edwards, Thomas Sabbath, Tim and Sarah Turner, Todd Curran, Tom Bestafka, Travis Cox, Walter M. Ames, Wesley McKee, William Durham, William Curry, William Thompson, and Zach Jackson. Join me in two weeks, or I'd like to tell you a story.