"Don't Let That Shadow Touch Them" by Lawrence B. Smith, 1942. Produced for the U.S. Treasury.

Throughout the war, Nebraskans were constantly bombarded with propaganda to help keep morale high, and those on the front lines were bombarded with propaganda intended to beat morale down.

"We were all the good guys. We did everything right and the Germans and the Japs, they looked awful and they sneered and they said lousy things. They were bad! It was really propaganda. I just accepted it. What else did I know?"
     — Rose Marie Murphy
         Christensen, Columbus,
         grade school student.

Our propaganda often stereotyped the Italian, German and Japanese enemies as evil characters. These portrayals dominated posters, movies and even cartoons intended for children.

You can see a slide show of propaganda posters here.

"We went to the movies all the time. You see them now on television, the same movies, and they are so blatantly propagandistic. Here was this little grinning guy again with the glasses and the buck teeth and the fur lined helmet. He was always in the cockpit. You were supposed to believe that there was somebody out on the wing shooting pictures of this guy in the cockpit while he was diving down."
     — Barc Bayley, Lincoln, high school student.

Propaganda was used on the front lines as well as the home front. One of the more widespread uses of propaganda was in leaflets that were dropped on soldiers from the air. These leaflets were intended to demoralize the soldier so that he would lay down his arms and surrender. The United States, Germany, and Japan all used these leaflets.

You can see one leaflet that the Germans dropped on Nebraska troops
during the last days of World War II here.

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