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 Political rhetoric is the art of using language as a means to persuade by the government to influence the people.  Propaganda refers to information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc.

 Political leaders of WWII used their rhetoric to influence the public and gain their support during wartime.  The main political leaders of WWII were: Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill (Britain), Charles de Gaulle (France), Adolf Hi tler (Germany), F D Roosevelt and Harry Tru man (USA), Joseph Stalin (USSR), and Hideki Tojo(Japan).

 Throughout the war, people were constantly bom barded with propaganda to help keep morale hig h, and those on the front lines were bombarded with propaganda intended to beat morale down.  Posters, radio broadcasts, television broadcasts h oardings were some examples of propaganda.  One of the more widespread uses of propaganda was in leaflets that were dropped on soldiers fro m the air. These leaflets were intended to demor alize the soldier so that he would lay down his ar ms and surrender. The United States, Germany, a nd Japan all used these leaflets.

 The poster shows two women chatting. The caption reads “Don ’t forget walls have ears too.” Mo st importantly, the walls have pat terns depicting the looks of Adolf Hitler.

 What does it mean? The government is encouraging people to not m ention any important details that may be benefic ial to enemies like the Germans, as there may be spies in the country. This is influential to the peo ple because it makes the British more aware that there may be people listening to their conversati ons. Also, this will help in reducing the inside inf ormation of Britain to Germany, as the people wi ll not let go of any important information unawar e of their surroundings.

Germany: late 1943 or early 1944.The caption reads: "The Jew: The inciter of war, the prolonger of war." Courtesy of Dr. Robert D. Brooks. The poster depicts the Jews being the mastermind behind the war. Poster should be successful in arousing feelings of hatred towards the Jews because they are seen as the cause of misery.

 The poster shows a drawing of Winston Churc hill pointing and saying “Deserve Victory”.  What does it mean? He is trying to influence the people that Brit ain deserves victory. Very influential, not onl y because Winston Churchill is a well known man, but also as Britain is facing a crisis, it l ed people into believing that a war would be necessary for the victory that Britain deserve s.

 Similarities- Both posters only have one main character as the mai n focus. This is to emphasize on the message behind t he poster in a more personal level- as if the character s are visually talking to the audience Both posters highlight the reason for war. For exampl e, German poster states that “Jews are incitors of wa r” and the British poster states that “victory” is the r eason for war.

- Differences The British poster depicts a more positive ton e (“victory”) whereas the German poster has a darker side to it- blaming the Jews. - The British poster reflects Winston Churchill, someone who is liked and respected by the p eople. The German poster, on the other hand depicts the face of a Jew, who is hated by th e people.

 Internet pshot43.htm html techniques.html de_gaulle.htm ters/derjude.jpg  Book Propaganda/Stewart Ross, Hove, East Sussex: Wayland Pub, 1993.

 Good definitions for key words  Interesting posters that you have picked, but there is a need to examine more posters so as to elicit a tren d in German and English propaganda.  Isolated comparison of 2 specific posters alone will no t be as useful if we’re talking about propaganda in ge neral. The German one looks at the Jew as the ‘other ’/outsider, what about in the case of British propagan da? Is there a group of people who are seen as traitor s or spies etc that must be excluded from society?  You might want to consider looking into Hitler’s or Ch urchill’s speeches to examine political rhetoric. What is it that makes it so effective? Do they both use the s ame tactic to rouse the feelings of the people? Or are their approaches different?