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The Allied Information Service and Psychological Operations during WWII
Hedberg, Scott
Hedberg, Scott
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Abstract
The Allies used battlefield psychological warfare with mixed results during World War Two. These leaflet and loudspeaker teams have been widely studied by military historians showing how psychological warfare targeted enemy soldiers. Overlooked is the Allied Information Service (AIS) under C. D. Jackson. Formed after the invasion of France, the AIS had a far different purpose than previous psychological warfare operations. Liberated French expectations clashed with the reality of the continuing hardships they continued to endure under Allied offensive operations. AIS’s goal was to directly influence the behavior of liberated French civilians; to gain and hold their support for the Allied invasion and prevent them from taking any actions that might hinder the continued push eastward. AIS used multiple forms of media to accomplish this: radio, newspapers, broadsides, and film. Using records from the National Archives, Eisenhower Presidential Library, Fort Leavenworth’s Combined Arms Research Library, and the US Army’s War College, this project examines the decisions behind the creation of AIS, its employment, the novelty of its civilian composition and methods of operations, as well as its success in achieving their influence over a civilian population. I argue that Jackson, on loan from Time-Life, shaped French behaviors through establishing a whole-of-media approach that he would later instill into the US Information Agency as a member of the Eisenhower administration. Awareness of AIS methods, motivations, and operations provides a better understanding of how psychological warfare targeted liberated civilians in the Second World War, foreshadowing similar use by the US Information Agency
Description
This paper was presented on March 29, 2025 at the 2025 Society for Military History Annual Conference, held in Mobile, Alabama.
Date
2025-03-29
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University of Kansas
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Keywords
Psychological warfare, World War II, Eisenhower