Committee on Public Information

At the outset of United States involvement in World War I, President Woodrow Wilson issued executive order 2594 to create the Committee on Public Information (CPI). The CPI served two vital functions during the war: as the “propaganda” bureau of the administration, and to publicize voluntary censorship of national media. David Lawrence, a former student of President Wilson at Princeton, and Arthur Bullard, a reporter and novelist, had suggested to the president that he establish a publicity bureau and that he be cautious of unnecessary [Page 155]censorship efforts. Bullard's arguments for such an approach started long before the 1917 creation of the CPI, and in the early days of the CPI Bullard did considerable work to help develop the organization and its materials.

The idea of using a government agency to sell the war to the people was also advanced by George Creel. After his initial meeting with the president, Creel was appointed as chairman of the CPI and was granted full executive powers. Stephen Vaughn (1980) noted that “President Wilson trusted him (Creel) and never considered any other person for the chairmanship” (p. 17). Although Creel had the full support of the president, his appointment was questioned by others, who noted his inability to accept criticism.

John Dos Passos (1962) said that Creel was “a hardworking man with an inexhaustible self confidence, his failing was snap judgements [sic]” (p. 301). Creel was an activist Democrat who believed that Woodrow Wilson was one of the greatest men who ever lived. He tended to view individuals in two extremes. Those who agreed with his position on an issue were great; those who disagreed with him were skunks. In fact, Creel wrote, “It must be admitted that an open mind is no part of my inheritance. I took in prejudices with mother's milk and was weaned on partisanship” (Dos Passos, 1962, p. 301).

Creel's family had moved to Missouri from Virginia after the Civil War. Creel grew up in Independence and Odessa, Missouri. While working in Kansas City, Creel met Wilson when Wilson (who was at Princeton) spoke to local high school students. Creel worked to get Wilson nominated for the presidency and worked for his reelection in 1916. Creel was a journalist who had worked on newspapers in Kansas City and New York before returning to Missouri in 1899 to found the Independent with Arthur Grissom. Prior to WWI Creel moved to Denver and wrote for the Post and the Rocky Mountain News and later served as the police commissioner.

President Wilson noted the importance of strong national support for the war in his draft proclamation by arguing that “the whole nation must be a team.” “To turn the whole nation into a team it was not enough to punish the expression of the wrong opinions. It was necessary to disseminate the right opinions” (Dos Passos, 1962, p. 300). To create this teamwork it was essential to promote the war to the American people. Creel was given the job of selling the war to the citizens of the United States and many other nations.

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