OWI | It's a Writing Life

Safe Conduct Pass

One of the most effective pieces of propaganda that came out of the Office of War Information (OWI) was the Safe Conduct Pass leaflet, which guaranteed safekeeping for the captured German soldiers. These passes were shot off of airplanes in non-exploding containers and drifted to land like leaves from a tree.

The concept of safe passage documentation was not new, having first been recorded in biblical times. In the middle ages, when a Christian wanted to travel to the Holy Land through an Islamic run territory, they needed transit papers to ensure safe travel to Jerusalem. At the Geneva Convention of 1929, a specific effort was made to revise the rules of the treatment of prisoners of war, especially in relation to eliminating reprisals and collective punishments.

The Safe Conduct Pass in World War Two was produced by the OWI-SHAEF Psychological Warfare Division working in close conjunction with their British counterpart. Early in the war, the British, Russians and French were all distributing surrender leaflets, but there was no uniformity to them, and some of the rules were not the same depending on who produced them. Once the United States was involved in the war, and after the collective British and American effort, a uniform and official Safe Conduct Pass was created. Continue reading “Safe Conduct Pass”

A Love Affair with Radio [Part 3] – ABSIE

My mother’s nearly ten-year career – from the late 1930s through most of the 1940s – had a strong information / radio theme (see Part 1 – A Lifetime Passion and Part 2 – The Roots of the VOA of this series). One of those pieces was the American Broadcasting Station in Europe (ABSIE), which was set up as a station by the U.S. Office of War Information (OWI) in collaboration with the BBC, to counter Nazi propaganda, and to have a unique American voice in Europe. The seven ABSIE Country Desks broadcast eight hours of programming each day from London, targeting their respective country-specific audiences. Launched in the months leading up to D-Day, it ended fifteen months later – just ninety days after victory in Europe.

As a member of the OWI French Desk, mom began working to help launch ABSIE soon after she arrived in London in early 1944 – as they helped prepare for the imminent invasion of Europe. ABSIE was to be America’s big propaganda ‘gun,’ run as a complement to the Voice of America (VOA), but having its own mission to support the military goals of the Allied invasion of France. The ABSIE copy was specifically designed to raise doubt in the German psyche as to the sense of continuing an un-winnable war. ABSIE was also to be the authoritative voice that would inform people in occupied areas on how to be prepared for the coming invasion. Continue reading “A Love Affair with Radio [Part 3] – ABSIE”

A Love Affair with Radio [Part 2]: The Roots of the Voice of America (VOA)

When I started researching material for my book, The French Desk – A Brooklyn Gal’s Journey into Wartime Propaganda, I pulled my mother’s personnel file from the US Department of State to better understand her war work history. Much to my delight, all her previous jobs were listed. As I read through the file, I came to the realization that radio and my mother were not only great friends, as I detailed in Part 1 of this series, but also old colleagues.

Journalist Robert Bauer (1942) – Source: US Agency for Global Media

Long story short, my mother attended the Katharine Gibbs School right after college because she did not want to be a nurse, teacher or lawyer at that time. There weren’t many career opportunities for women college graduates in the late 1930’s beyond the traditional routes. Even law school was unusual for a woman them, but not unheard of. In fact, the following year, her sister did go to law school right after college. What my mother really wanted to do was get back to Paris and work as a linguist but just how she would do that was not clear to anyone. In 1939, the war was escalating quickly so the thought of traveling to Paris was out of the question at the moment. Case closed.

Her father insisted that all his children be able to support themselves. Like many her age, I think she went to Katie Gibbs not out of desperation, but due to the lack of real opportunity for a smart, college-educated, French-speaking woman. Her stepmother also had gone to secretarial school and had an excellent career as an Executive Secretary before marrying my grandfather. “They’ll figure out you’re smart and will move you along,” my grandfather had said. How right he was! Continue reading “A Love Affair with Radio [Part 2]: The Roots of the Voice of America (VOA)”

A Love Affair with Radio [Part 1]: A Lifetime Passion

My mother loved listening to the radio. When I was young, she had 1010 WINS tuned in on a tiny little black “flip” clock radio in our kitchen. You could faintly hear the tinny news tone upstairs, with the time check every three minutes or so, as we filtered downstairs to breakfast. To this day, the staccato news break sound brings me right back to the 1970’s, like an old friend.

Panasonic 1280 “Flip” Clock Radio (1970s) – Source: eBay

The radio trailed us in the car too, which in the warmer months included listening to the New York Mets games on WOR 710 in the afternoons or evenings. It did help pass the time on our way to the beach. Back at home, when she couldn’t sleep, I remember that she’d retreat to one of my sister’s rooms, as they had moved on to college and jobs by then. She’d settle into one of their beds, with the radio on low, listening to some talk show or WQXR, New York’s classical music station, or one of the Mets games if they were on the west coast. Continue reading “A Love Affair with Radio [Part 1]: A Lifetime Passion”

OWI’s WW2 Propaganda Greatest Hits

Often when I explain the background of my yet-to-be published book to someone, The French Desk – A Brooklyn Gal’s Journey into Wartime Propaganda, about my mother’s World War Two experiences working for the Office of War Information (OWI), my companion is usually intrigued, and looking for more information.

Propaganda is a loaded word to throw out in casual conversation, especially in relation to your mother – and in today’s divisive political climate. With an advertising background, I know to immediately talk about OWI’s greatest hits. I ask if they have ever heard of the Voice of America (VOA)? Maybe they’ve seen some of the famous wartime posters with targeted messages such as “Loose Lips Might Sink Ships”? Have they ever heard of the radio program “Music for the Wehrmacht” featuring Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, among others – or know that Glenn Miller, the famous band leader, performed concerts over the radio that the Germans could hear in their homeland (before he tragically died flying to a concert)? Or perhaps they’ve seen some of the old movies and newsreels that the OWI sponsored and produced during the war to boost morale, from famous Directors such as Frank Capra. The Why We Fight movie series is among the most well known, the first of which was Prelude to War. Continue reading “OWI’s WW2 Propaganda Greatest Hits”