George Creel was an investigative journalist

Investigative journalism

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years researching and preparing a report. Investigative journalism...

, a politician

Politician

A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

, and, most famously, the head of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Committee on Public Information

Committee on Public Information

The Committee on Public Information, also known as the CPI or the Creel Committee, was an independent agency of the government of the United States created to influence U.S. public opinion regarding American participation in World War I...

, a propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....

 organization created by President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

 during World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. He said of himself that "an open mind is not part of my inheritance. I took in prejudices with mother's milk and was weaned on partisanship."

Creel began his career as a reporter for the Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

 World in 1894 before starting his own newspaper, the Kansas City Independent, in 1899.

He later took jobs with The Denver Post

The Denver Post

-Ownership:The Post is the flagship newspaper of MediaNews Group Inc., founded in 1983 by William Dean Singleton and Richard Scudder. MediaNews is today one of the nation's largest newspaper chains, publisher of 61 daily newspapers and more than 120 non-daily publications in 13 states. MediaNews...

(1909–1910) and the Rocky Mountain News (1911–1917). In June 1912, Creel was appointed Police Commissioner of Denver by the recently-elected reform mayor, Henry J. Arnold. Creel immediately used the office to launch several ambitious reform campaigns—such as ordering police officers to give up their clubs and nightsticks, as well as a campaign to destroy the red-light district in downtown Denver, while providing a tax-funded "rehabilitation farm" for women leaving prostitution. Mayor Arnold overrode several of Creel's controversial orders, and in February 1913, when Creel accused city policemen and Fire Commissioner Thomas F. McGrew of public drunkenness, Mayor Arnold suspended Creel from office. Creel returned to work for the Rocky Mountain News until 1917, when President Wilson made him head of the United States Committee on Public Information during World War I.

He published his memoir

Memoir

A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...

s of the experience, How We Advertised America, in 1920, and would write 14 other books during his lifetime. He described American propaganda by saying "Our effort was educational and informative throughout, for we had such confidence in our case as to feel that no other argument was needed than the simple, straightforward presentation of facts."

Creel was known to have said "expression not repression" about censorship. Creel gathered the nation's artists to create thousands of painting

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

s, poster

Poster

A poster is any piece of printed paper designed to be attached to a wall or vertical surface. Typically posters include both textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or wholly text. Posters are designed to be both eye-catching and informative. Posters may be...

s, cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

s, and sculpture

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

s promoting the War. He also gathered support from choir

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

s, social club

Club

A club is an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal. A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities; there are clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political and religious clubs, and so forth.- History...

s, and religious

Religion

Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...

 institutions to join "The Worlds Greatest Adventure In Advertising." He recruited about 75,000 "Four Minute Men

Four Minute Men

The Four Minute Men were a group of volunteers authorized by the President Woodrow Wilson, to give four-minute speeches on topics given to them by The Committee on Public Information...

," who spoke about the War at social events for an ideal length of four minutes, considering that the average human attention span

Attention span

Attention span is the amount of time that a person can concentrate on a task without becoming distracted. Most educators and psychologists agree that the ability to focus one's attention on a task is crucial for the achievement of one's goals....

 was judged at the time to be four minutes. They covered the draft

Conscription

Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...

, rationing

Rationing

Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, or services. Rationing controls the size of the ration, one's allotted portion of the resources being distributed on a particular day or at a particular time.- In economics :...

, bond

War bond

War bonds are debt securities issued by a government for the purpose of financing military operations during times of war. War bonds generate capital for the government and make civilians feel involved in their national militaries...

 drives, victory garden

Victory garden

Victory gardens, also called war gardens or food gardens for defense, were vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted at private residences and public parks in United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Germany during World War I and World War II to reduce the pressure on the public food supply...

s and why America was fighting. These men thereby helped to maintain the nation's morale

Morale

Morale, also known as esprit de corps when discussing the morale of a group, is an intangible term used to describe the capacity of people to maintain belief in an institution or a goal, or even in oneself and others...

. It was estimated that by the end of the war, they had made more than 7.5 million speeches to 314 million people.

Creel wrote book

Book

A book is a set or collection of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of hot lava, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf or leaflet, and each side of a leaf is called a page...

s as well as speeches. How the War Came to America, translated into many languages, sold almost seven million copies and included Wilson's war message. He created pamphlets that were handed out with help from the Boy Scouts of America

Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...

. Almost 60 million pamphlets, booklets, and leaflets were distributed. Although not all people changed their minds about the War due to his efforts, he succeeded in reaching the people.

He served on the San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

 Regional Labor Board in 1933 and became chairman of the National Advisory Board of the Works Progress Administration

Works Progress Administration

The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...

 in 1935.

He was an active member of the Democratic Party

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 and ran against the novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

ist Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair

Upton Beall Sinclair Jr. , was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle . It exposed conditions in the U.S...

 for the post of Governor of California

Governor of California

The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...

.

In his last years Creel was a fervent anti-Communist

Anti-communism

Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...

, working with Senator Joseph McCarthy

Joseph McCarthy

Joseph Raymond "Joe" McCarthy was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957...

 and Richard Nixon during the Red Scare

Red Scare

Durrell Blackwell Durrell Blackwell The term Red Scare denotes two distinct periods of strong Anti-Communism in the United States: the First Red Scare, from 1919 to 1920, and the Second Red Scare, from 1947 to 1957. The First Red Scare was about worker revolution and...

 of the late 1940s.

He was married to Blanche Bates

Blanche Bates

Blanche Bates was an American actress, born at Portland, Ore. She made her début in San Francisco in a benefit performance of Brander Matthews's This Picture and That. Among her early successes were her Mrs. Hillary in The Senator, Phyllis in The Charity Ball, and Nora in A Doll's House...

 from 1912 until her death in 1941. Afterward, Creel resided at the Bohemian Club

Bohemian Club

The Bohemian Club is a private men's club in San Francisco, California, United States.Its clubhouse is located at 624 Taylor Street in San Francisco...

in San Francisco.

Sources

• George Creel, How We Advertised America (NY: Harper & Brothers, 1920), Available from Internet Archive
• Thomas Fleming, The Illusion of Victory: America in World War I (NY: Basic Books, 2003)
• Committee on Public Information, How the War Came to America

See also

• Emma Goldman, "Observations and Comments," in Mother Earth VII.12 (February, 1913).