ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by prop... aganda,

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a new age method of training for actors.

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A similar poster from the era might state that the purpose of

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fighting World War II was to... what?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ water glugs ]

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[ mumbles ]

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All right. Propaganda posters were

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everywhere during World War II and they came in all forms.

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Let's see which answer describes one of the messages

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the government spread to the masses.

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Would propaganda posters have stated that the purpose of

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fighting World War II was to A -

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gain new territories in Europe and Asia?

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Well, the international order was truly a mess during this time,

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but gaining new territories and securing alliances weren't

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specific goals of entering the global conflict.

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That takes A and D off the table.

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Could posters have encouraged

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support for the war because the conflict would

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C - put an end to the country's economic problems?

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Well, some posters did focus on how Americans could

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boost the economy during the war,

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but only as a side effect of supporting the fighting effort.

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So it's not C, either.

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Which means similar posters during World War II

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B - promoted the spread of democracy throughout the world.

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The U.S. government used propaganda to shore up support

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among its citizens, so many of these posters promoted

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the spread of democracy,

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which was supposedly the reason for America's

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entry into the European theater of war in the first place.

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So the answer is B.

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In many ways, the spread of democracy became

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the poster child of the war,

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though she would cause a whole mess of trouble

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as she entered her teenage years. Yeah.

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It's gonna be ugly.

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