Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Draft* Paper for the 9th International Conference on War, Civil Conflict, Security & Peace Salzburg Austria, November 7-‐9, 2012 Dr Krystina Benson, Assistant Professor Public Relations School of Communication and Media, Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty, Bond University, Queensland, Australia kbenson[at]bond.edu.au Please contact the author before quoting The Four Minute Men and the Red Cross: 1917-1918 Krystina Benson Abstract This paper answers the question: focusing on the Red Cross in the Four Minute Men Bulletins, how did the CPI’s campaign translate into different areas of culture, and what were the implications? It focuses on the significance of war propaganda created by the Committee on Public Information (CPI), entering the domains of journalism and popular culture. The CPI was an American World War I propaganda organisation that mobilized the nation for war. It worked with a variety of non-governmental organizations including the Red Cross. One division of the CPI was the Four Minute Men (FMM), a national network of orators who spoke locally about war aims between changing film reels at motion picture theatres. The speaking campaigns supported the Red Cross by raising money for the Red Cross war fund, including two “Red Cross Weeks” and the Red Cross Christmas Roll Call. The study of the CPI was undertaken using close reading and archival contextualization, composed of historical contextualization and semiotics of CPI archival materials from the National Archive and Records Administration in Maryland, USA. The analysis reveals emotional persuasive tactics found in Four Minute Men Bulletins, which were sent out to local chairman to inform their speeches and the Four Minute Men News Bulletins, sent out as an organisational tool for the FMM. The research shows an overlap in the cultural domains of war propaganda, journalism and popular culture evidenced in a systems analysis using Yuri Lotman’s concept of the semiosphere. The implications of propaganda entering other domains of culture can be found by comparing their functional expectations: propaganda as rhetoric, journalism as a form of truth-seeking and popular culture as amusement. This analysis found that the CPI’s campaign was a 2 The Four Minute Men and the Red Cross __________________________________________________________________ transmedia campaign that used journalism as a means to generate media credibility across multiple media forms. Key Words: Committee on Public Information, Creel committee, journalism, media and cultural studies, popular culture, propaganda, public relations, Red Cross, semiosphere, transmedia. ***** 1. Introduction The Four Minute Men (FMM) were a national network of men who gave four minute speeches in motion picture houses as propaganda orators.1 They were part of a much larger transmedia campaign created and run by the US government, which created the Committee on Public Information (CPI). Its purpose was to mobilize the American people to fight in World War I. President Wilson stated, “…it is not an army we must shape and train for war, it is a nation” (1917). Before his presidency, Wilson wrote The Leaders of Men (1889), in which he outlined his perspective on leadership and persuasion: Men are not led by being told what they don’t know. Persuasion is a force, but not information; and persuasion is accomplished by creeping into the confidence of those you would lead. Their confidence is gained by qualities which they can recognise, by arguments which they can assimilate: by the things which find easy entrance into their minds and are easily transmitted to the palms of their hands or the ends of their walking-sticks in the shape of applause.2 The CPI was the official source of government news. The CPI coordinated communication between government agencies including the Navy and Army with non-governmental organizations such as the Red Cross and the Salvation Army to propagate war information to the American public. 2. Research Question, Methods and Data CPI correspondence and campaign materials are used to create a cultural archival-based account about the systems of propaganda, journalism and popular culture. This paper answers the question: focusing on the Red Cross in the Four Minute Men Bulletins, how did the CPI’s campaign translate into different areas of culture, and what were the implications? Each of these systems are held in theoretical tension by examining the context, medium and content of CPI propaganda materials in historical context, and in relation to Lotman’s concept of Krystina Benson 3 __________________________________________________________________ the semiosphere by defining the function of each system as persuasion, truth-telling and amusement3. Lotman’s concept of the semiosphere is based on the biosphere. It has similar qualities to the noosphere and logosphere in that it sets out what is ‘in’ an area of culture and how different elements interact. The semiosphere outlines a systems theory of culture, which examines how new information is created by the ‘translation’ of overlapping systems. Originally, it was applied to the translation of languages, but it has also been applied to examine journalism (Cf. Hartley, 1996) and the relationship between journalism, propaganda and popular culture in relation to the CPI’s war propaganda campaign (Cf. Benson 2012b). The semiosphere makes available the agency of the user, for example, to understand that CPI propaganda posters were collected for their entertainment value, despite, or in addition to their promotion of war aims. The concept of the semiosphere “allows semiotics of culture to reach a new understanding of holism, a holistic analysis of dynamic processes” (Torop, 2005, 169). It takes into consideration technological functions of media generated through dynamic relationships that rely on shared meaning and at the same time involve multiple interpretations during transmission. This leads to the creation of new information within a cultural context (Lotman, 1990, 13–15). The concepts of transmedia and mediation can further enable an understanding of dynamic processes. The Red Cross Campaigns orated by the FMM were propaganda campaigns; however they illustrate that propaganda is a system which can be used for positive purposes. As Lasswell (1928) noted propaganda is “no more moral or immoral than a pump handle” (264). However, in a transmedia campaign, defined as the production and distribution of specific parts of a narrative in different media forms to heighten a users experience (Jenkins, 2006), meaning is translated into various systems. It is significant to understand that messages about the need for donating money to help wounded allied soldiers were also based in a semiotic system that propagated hatred of the enemy. The impact of transmedia involves the circulation of credibility from one cultural system, or one semiosphere, into other semiospheres. Silverstone’s (1999) theory of mediation can be applied to understand why a transmedia campaign encourages movement between semiospheres in terms of the cultural expectations of function. He defines mediation as a process of “the circulation of meaning”, which can involve “the movement of meaning from one text to another, from one discourse to another, from one event to another” (Silverstone, 1999, 13). Mediation “involves constant transformation of meanings, both large scale and small, significant and insignificant as media texts and texts about media circulate in writing, in speech and audiovisual forms” (13). A war propaganda transmedia campaign is able to take advantage of this process. The use of key influential media to tell different parts of the war narrative – newspapers, songs, art, fashion, word of mouth and the combination of political and personal life-changing propaganda – is a technique used in the CPI’s campaigns. 4 The Four Minute Men and the Red Cross __________________________________________________________________ A systems semiotic analysis may be a rather contentious method for examining the CPI’s materials4 in relation to journalism studies literature and non-systems semiotic studies. However, Lotman wanted the work to be used as “general concepts that are applicable within a variety of methodological approaches to the study of cultures” (Andrews, 2009, xx). In this case, propaganda, journalism and popular culture are analyzed as semiospheres, areas of culture that have distinct norms, enabling the scoping of an area of culture which examining different media forms. Using the concept of the semiosphere “offers a more unified and dynamic vision of semiosis than the study of a specific medium as if each existed in a vacuum” (Chandler, 2005 p.15). Close reading was used to determine relevant artifacts in the thousands of CPI archival files and archival contextualization was used to inform the study with relevant historical factors. What was ‘relevant’ was determined by asking questions of the context of the archival material (what are relevant events, trends and factors to know about e.g. muckraking journalism), medium (what is it made of? e.g. a poster the implications of that medium at that time), and content (what does it say? e.g. what are the messages in the material using semiotic analysis?). (for further detail cf. Benson 2012b). Data is composed of the two sets of newsletters that were distributed to FMM around the country: the Four Minute Men Bulletins used to and the Four Minute Men News Bulletins. A typical FMM bulletin contained a letter from the director, short news pieces about relevant topical information and pointers about content. They concluded with a section of illustrative speeches, which provided examples of how all of the material in the bulletin could be utilized in one four-minute speech. The news bulletins served as an internal communication tool, keeping all members up to date about everything from proper speaking dress, to ethics and publicity. The news bulletins differ from the bulletins because they were distributed about every three months, totaling six in all “to keep the thousands of separate organizations in touch with each other and with developments of the actual application of the work” (CPI Report, 1920, 28). Materials from other divisions also examined in relation to the FMM archival material, such as those from the Division of Pictorial Publicity and the Division of News. 3. The Four Minute Men Larson and Mock (1939) give a comprehensive overview of the CPI, explain its origins and give an overview of the FMM and its campaigns. The FMM division has been studied as a national network during the war (Oukrop, 1975), in terms of their rhetorical speech training (Yost, 1919), and in relation to patriotism (Graham, 1995). Mastrangelo (2009) analyses the FMM in terms of public speaking and civic participation. Additionally, this is further examined in relation to rhetorical theory and practice by Sproule (2010). Cornibise (1984) analyzed the Four Minute Men bulletins, including Red Cross activity. His work focused on the content of the bulletins and he concludes that the Four Minute Men were a key part of the CPI Krystina Benson 5 __________________________________________________________________ propaganda campaign. This study draws upon the knowledge collected and disseminated from these and studies of the CPI in its entirety, but examines CPI material within a semiotic system, focusing on the Division of FMM and their promotion of the Red Cross.5 The strategy of the CPI was to advertise to the nation the need to enter the war, what was required to win it, and to persuade each and every citizen, from child to grandparent, regardless of skill or location, as to how they could contribute. In effect, the FMM bulletins targeted opinion leaders, and then asked these leaders to spread the opinion via social contact with audiences in motion picture houses. This helped enable the FMM to set an agenda for public discourse. Film had “quickly emerged as the dominant form of popular entertainment” (Bakker, 2007, 93), and the FMM obtained official and sole permission to use motion-picture houses for their speeches. The FMM have been deemed successful for three main reasons: they utilized ready-made audiences; locally respected volunteer speakers generally spoke in their own communities; and “tight control from national headquarters in Washington” (Vaughn, 1979, 120). The FMM persuaded audiences to join the food drive with the Food Administration, recruited for the Army, Navy and war industries, and propagated nationalism, patriotism, hatred of the enemy and democracy promotion. They also ran educational and fundraising campaigns for the American Red Cross. 4. Four Minute Men and the Red Cross Four Red Cross campaigns were orated by the FMM. This included two ‘Red Cross Weeks’ during the war, and the Red Cross home service and Christmas Roll Call after the war. The first Red Cross Week Campaign was created to raise a billion dollars for Red Cross work. The purpose of the speaking campaign was to inform and help the community accept (if needed) the quota that had been estimated for their town or city, to encourage them to show their patriotism by “exceeding its quota” and to explain how to donate money (CPI, B:5, 1917, 1). The speakers were asked to educate the audience to help them “appreciate the occasion”, “understand the need”, “accept the local quota”, “feel the personal obligation”, “get the spirit of patriotic sacrifice”, “correct certain misapprehensions”, “understand how to subscribe” and finally, “feel the sentiment that moves to action” (CPI, B:5, 1917, 1–2). The second Red Cross campaign also raised money for its war fund. This bulletin has an image of a woman in a Red Cross hat, wrapped in a gown holding a hurt bandaged soldier, posing in the form commonly associated with the Virgin Mary. Underneath, a caption reads: “The Greatest Mother in the World” (see Image 1) (CPI, B:30, 1918, 1). FMM director McCormick Blair addresses the 30,000 FMM in a bulletin dated 27 April 1918. He explains that the purpose of the drive is not to ask citizens for subscriptions or pledges, but rather “to arouse our listeners to action” by giving them the “will to give” because they “must be stirred 6 The Four Minute Men and the Red Cross __________________________________________________________________ in the heart of every man and woman so that they will seek out the Red Cross office early in the morning rather than wait for someone to call” (CPI, B:30, 1918, 2). One section describes the “terrible tales” of “the shortage of bandages and shortage of anesthetics in European conflicts” and continues, “let us hope that an American soldier’s wounds need never be dressed with straw and bandaged with newspaper” (CPI, B:30, 1918, 3). This campaign targets an audience’s emotions because it graphically details the consequences of underfunding. Image 1: Four Minute Men Bulletin cover: “The Greatest Mother in the World” (CPI, B: 30, 1) Typical features of propaganda campaigns are found throughout the Red Cross campaign bulletins. First, in and of themselves, the bulletins are an example of agenda setting. The campaigns speak to the individual within a mass group. Furthermore, they dismiss contrary arguments by attributing them to the enemy. (Benson, 2012a). Krystina Benson 7 __________________________________________________________________ Speaking to a group of people about a topic – which, from the propagandist’s perspective, could and should be able to be internalized by everyone in the group, while having a personalized effect on each person individually – is the key to Ellul’s (1973) concept of speaking to the individual within the mass in a propaganda campaign (6). When an orator encourages people to think of themselves during a speech, it enables a person to personalize their own message while being in a crowd. For example, the first “short talk on the Red Cross” example starts with “We all want to help win the war. So let me ask you: what have YOU done?” (CPI, B:30, 1918, 8) The outright focus on the individual within the audience, and what they personally have done is encouraged by the directive use of the word “you“. These personal messages are then combined with emotional appeals such as: We must have another Hundred Million Dollars now. It must recruit 25,000 nurses – make millions and millions of bandages and dressings – but it must have a Hundred Million Dollars. What are you doing? What are you giving? Are you helping or hindering? For you are hindering if you are not in step with the Army of Liberty – and your Division is the Red Cross. Give! Give til it hurts! Work! Work as long as there is work to be done, Help the Red Cross, because the Red Cross is helping to Win the War.6 The message –that the Red Cross needs help and money – in combination with a direct appeal to the individual encourages comparison between what has been done by an individual and what can be done. It is a natural human tendency for people to want to minimize the difference between what they have already done with what they feel that they should do. Aristotle explained that persuasion must be “employed”, and in doing so “contrary views” must be explained (Aristotle, 1954, 22–33). This is a useful method because once an easily provable lie is attributed to the enemy; other questionable information about the US government can be attributed to the enemy in the future. The government casts itself as the sole trustworthy source of information. “SPIKE THE LIES!” calls out one section, which then describes how “innumerable tales have been circulated about the Red Cross” and how some are due to “idle gossip”, while others are “believed to have originated in malicious propaganda” (CPI, B:30, 1918, 4). Overall though “suffice it to say that all the stories about the sale of goods by the Red Cross, about poison in sweaters, and similar stories when traced down have been found to be baseless rumours” (4). This easily dismissible rumour is then used as a basis to attribute other information to the enemy. The next bulletin discusses that “there still remains the whispered propaganda: ‘Why send our boys to France to bleed and die?’” (CPI, B:31, 1918, 8 The Four Minute Men and the Red Cross __________________________________________________________________ 8). This is a reference to the US propaganda article series “The German Whisper”, written by the Division of Civic and Educational Cooperation. Following this line of thought, any information explaining that it is not worthwhile to send soldiers overseas because they may die can then be attributed to enemy propaganda. The third and fourth FMM Red Cross speaking topics were different kinds of campaigns because by this time the war had been won. The third Red Cross campaign was about the Red Cross Home Service. The bulletin reminded the FMM to tell their audiences to purchase a membership of the Red Cross so that the work of helping soldiers and families both in America and overseas could be continued. It explains its promise to “stand by “the disabled soldiers” until they are “restored to health, retrained for a new vocation, and replaced in industry” (CPI, B:43, 1918, 1). A brief synopsis of the work that the Red Cross did throughout the war is explained in the fourth and final FMM Red Cross campaign entitled the Christmas roll Call (CPI, B:45, 1918, 4). Financial accountability is given through figures from the first and second War Fund drives, with explanations of how the money was spent (4). It also asks that 100 per cent of Americans purchase memberships to the Red Cross in order to raise the required money (4). 5. Movement in the Semiospheres Associate Director of the FMM Professor Bertram G. Nelson, who taught public speaking at the University of Chicago, toured around the country in 1917 and 1918 teaching the FMM the “art of putting talks across” (Creel, 2006, 89). Nelson (1918) explained that the purpose of the FMM was to reach the public: Not through the press, for they do not read; not through patriotic rallies, for they do not come. Every night eight to ten million people of all classes, all degrees of intelligence, black and white, young and old, rich and poor, meet in the moving picture houses of this country, and among them are many of these silent ones who do not read or attend meetings but who must be reached.7 The FMM were utilizing popular culture to draw an audience, both through the crowds at theatres and through promotion in newspapers. The FMM were encouraged to read newspapers to educate themselves in addition to the information supplied in the bulletins. Speakers were told that they should “read all the papers every day, to find a new slogan, or a new phraseology, or a new idea to replace something you have in your speech” (CPI, B:1, 1917, 1). In some instances, bulletins would direct speakers to specific newspaper articles. This was in part because the: Four Minute Men know that only the spoken word will ever “reach” millions of Americans. We know how men skim instead Krystina Benson 9 __________________________________________________________________ of reading, and how even when they have read they fail to absorb the printed words. Many a listener at a four-minute talk has thus gained for the first time a clear view of facts long before fully explained in scores of newspaper articles.8 The CPI’s silent black and white films Pershing’s Crusaders (1918), America’s Answer (1918) and Under Four Flags (1918), as well as its weekly release of the Official War Review were motivation for audiences to attend the theatre, but the FMM also attracted the audience. The films were composed of a variety of lengths and types. A typical evening would begin with a film and then “when the hero and heroine had walked hand in hand into the sunset, ending the ‘first show’ of the evening, the pianist might shift from ‘Hearts and Flowers’ to ‘Over There’, a slide would be thrown into the screen and one of Mr Creel’s Four-Minute Men would take the stage” (Mock and Larson, 1939, 114). Music was an important part of popular culture used to encourage Americans to support the war. “Tin Pan Alley” was the name of the place in New York where musicians created combinations of jazz, blues and ragtime music. They were popular musicians of the time, and their: popular music reflected and capitalized on the new national mood. Tin Pan Alley had developed into an efficient machine. If the country demanded a particular type of song, the Alley could produce it. And the demand for war songs was phenomenal. Tin Pan Alley also responded to the government’s encouragement.9 The CPI encouraged these musicians to write pro-war songs (71). One indication of “how important the government thought music was to the war effort was that despite paper rationing, music publishers continued to receive their full quota of paper for printing sheet music” (71). The song “Over There” is possibly the best known of these songs (see image 2). It is an upbeat song about Johnnie that tells him to “get your gun” and “take it on the run” and “every son of liberty” to “Yankee Doodle do or die” to “show your grit, and do your bit” (Cohan, 1917). The chorus continues: send the word to beware. We’ll be over, we’re coming over, And we won’t come back till it’s over Over there. 10 The Four Minute Men and the Red Cross __________________________________________________________________ Image 2: Cover of sheet music to Over There (Cohan, 1917) The words “over there” took on the meaning of the war front during the war years, and posters of the Division of Pictorial Publicity illustrated works using similar wording for the Division of Advertising such as A.G. Hill’s illustration for the phrases “Over There–Over Here” and “He’ll come back a better man” (CPI, 1B1). During the intermission occurring after 8.00 p.m., the speeches would be presented during the four minutes it took to change reels (Mock and Larson, 1939, 117). In addition to the volunteers, ready-made audiences and control from Washington, another factor should be considered as key to the success of the FMM: that the campaign took place across a variety of media channels. Publicity was given to the speakers in newspapers, pamphlets and posters. The FMM were advertised in the local newspapers in the cinema entertainment section, which also listed the names and times of movies (Mock and Larson, 1939, 133). In his official report on the CPI’s activities, Creel details how “articles containing the pith of each bulletin were sent out from headquarters and released through local chairman and publicity managers in thousands of communities for use in the local papers” (CPI Report, 1920, 29). This is an example of propaganda advertised in journalism for a popular culture event, and therefore shows all the areas of concern sharing purpose and media space. 5. Conclusion Krystina Benson 11 __________________________________________________________________ The FMM Red Cross campaigns were successful not only because of the obvious need to take care of American and ally soldiers in a time of total war, but because their promotional strategies and tactics were well in-tune with the needs of journalism, the main medium for disseminating information nationally at the time. Furthermore, the CPI tapped into the system of popular culture through film, which as a vehicle for entertainment and served persuasive messages and influenced peer pressure. The term propaganda is generally thought of as a negative influence on society, but focusing on the positive and negative aspects develops of an understanding about how a ubiquitous method of mass persuasion actually functioned in cultural systems. The CPI is still relevant today not only because of its impact on the development of American journalism, but also because it serves a case study to develop a better understanding of how persuasive materials circulate in cultural systems. 10 Notes 1 They also spoke at lumber mill meetings, Churches, colleges and other areas which held public gatherings. The FMM also performed at pro-war rallies, state fairs and war exhibitions. Women gave speeches mainly at matinees and women’s clubs (Creel, 2006, 90); African-Americans also had local units in some states, as did Yiddish and Italian-speaking localities (Vaughn, 1979, 120). Children became Junior Four Minute Men as part of a school-targeted education campaign (Creel, 2006, 92). 2 Wilson, 2005, 215 3 Cf. Benson, 2012a for details regarding the methods and methodology and an overview of how Lotman’s concept of the semiosphere is applied. 4 Cf. Benson 2012b for an overview of findings of the larger study which purport the coming together of the three semiospheres under study 5 This is published in part from a doctoral thesis entitled, The Committee on Public Information: A transmedia war propaganda campaign, 2012. 6 CPI, B:30, 1918, 8 7 Nelson, 1918, 252 8 CPI, B:20, 1917, 5 9 Smith, 2003, 71 Archives and Collections National Archives and Records Administration, Archives II, College Park, Maryland. 12 The Four Minute Men and the Red Cross __________________________________________________________________ Record Group 63 Committee on Public Information Library of Congress, Washington, DC Bulletin/4 Minute Men 4. [Washington, DC: Division of Four Minute Men, Committee on Public Information], 1917–1918. LC Control No.: 85064817 Key to in text citation: (Author, Bulletin: Number, page, year). E.g. (CPI, B:F, 8, 1918). Bibliography Andrews, Edna. ‘Introduction.’ In Culture and Explosion. Ed. Marina Grishakova, Trans. Wilma Clark from 2004 based on J.M. Lotman (2004) “Kul’tura I vzryv”. In Juri Lotman, Semiosfera, 11–148. St Petersburg: Iskusstvo-SPB/Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, pp. xix-xxvi, 2009 Aristotle. Rhetoric. Translated and edited by W. Rhys Roberts. New York: Modern Library, 1954. Bakker, Gerbin. ‘The Evolution of Entertainment Consumption and the Emergence of Cinema, 1890–1940.’ In The Evolution of Consumption: Theories and Practices. 93–138. Ed. Marina Bianchi. Oxford: Emerald Group, 2007. Benson, K. ‘Archival Analysis of the Committee on Public Information: The Relationship between Propaganda, Journalism and Popular Culture.’ The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society. Vol. 6(4) 151-164. 2010. –––, ‘The Committee on Public Information: A transmedia war propaganda campaign.’ Cultural Science Journal. Vol. 5(2). Available online at: <http://culturalscience.org/journal/index.php/culturalscience/article/view/59/143> 2012a. –––, The Committee on Public Information: A transmedia war propaganda campaign. (Doctoral dissertation). 2012b. Chandler, Daniel. Semiotics for Beginners: Introduction. Retrieved online 17 August, 2012. Available online at: <http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/sem01.html> 2005. Cohan, George M. Over There. Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Division, Duke University. Reproduction Number Music #1186. Krystina Benson 13 __________________________________________________________________ <http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/gilded/jb_gilded_cohan_1_e.html>. Accessed 5 January 2011. 1917. Cornebise, Alfred. War as Advertised: The Four Minute Men and America’s Crusade, 1917–1918. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1984 [1982]. CPI Report. (‘Complete Report of the Chairman of the Committee on Public Information 1917: 1918: 1919’). Washington Government Printing Office. Retrieved online at: <http://www.archive.org/details/completereportof00unit>. Accessed 20 August 2010. 1920. Creel, George. How We Advertised America: The First Telling of the Amazing Story of the Committee on Public Information that Carried the Gospel of Americanism to Every Corner of the Globe. New Hampshire: Ayer, 2006 [1920]. Ellul, Jacques. Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf, 1973 [1968]. Graham, Jeanette. ‘The four minute men: Volunteers for propaganda,’ Southern Communication Journal. Vol. 32(1). 49-57, 1995. Hartley, John. Popular Reality. London: Arnold, 1996. Mastrangelo, Lisa.’Forum on the Four Minute Men, World War I, Public Intellectuals, and the Four Minute Men: Convergent Ideals of Public Speaking and Civic Participation.’ Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Vol. 12(4). 607–34, 2009. Larson, Cedric, and James R. Mock. ‘The Four-Minute Men.’ The Quarterly Journal of Speech. Vol. XXV(1). 97-112. 1939. Lasswell, Harold. ‘The Function of the Propagandist.’ International Journal of Ethics, Vol. 38(3). 258–68, 1928. Lotman, Juri. Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. Trans. Anne Shukman. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1990. Mock, James R. and Cedric Larson. Words That Won the War Words that Won the War: The Story of the Committee on Public Information, 1917–1919. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1939. Nelson, Bertram. ‘The Four Minute Men.’ In What Every American Should Know About the War; a Series of Studies by the Greatest Authorities of Europe and America Covering Every Aspect of the Great Struggle, Delivered at the National Conference of American Lecturers, Washington, D.C., April 8–13, Ed. Montaville Flowers. New York: George H. Doran Company. 14 The Four Minute Men and the Red Cross __________________________________________________________________ <http://books.google.com.au/books?id=KOl8ZwVFZ5gC&printsec=frontcover&d q=What+Every+American+Should+Know+about+the+War++By+Montaville+Flo wers&hl=en&ei=vATuTMeVDIj0vQOhvLTdDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=resu lt&resnum=1&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false> Accessed 25 November 2010. 1918. Oukrop, Carol. ‘The Four Minute Men Became National Network During World War I,’ Journalism Quarterly Vol. 52. 632–37, 1975. Smith, Kathleen E.R. God Bless America: Tin Pan Alley Goes to War. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2003. Silverstone, Roger. Why Study the Media? London: Sage, 1999. Sproule, J. Michael. ‘The Four Minute Men and Early Twentieth-Century Public Speaking Pedagogy.’ Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Vol. 13(2). 309–322, 2010. Torop, Peeter. ‘Semiosphere and/as the Research Object of Semiotics of Culture.’ Sign Systems Studies, No. 33, Vol. 1, 159–73, 2005. Yost, Mary. ‘Training Four Minute Men at Vassar,’ Quarterly Journal of Speech Education 5, 246, 1919. Vaughn, Stephen. (1980). Holding Fast the Inner Lines: Democracy, Nationalism, and the Committee on Public Information. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. Vaughn, Stephen. ‘First Amendment Liberties and the Committee on Public Information.’ The American Journal of Legal History, Vol. 23(2). 95–119, 1979. Wilson, Woodrow. Pestritto, Ronald J. ‘Leaders of Men’ in Woodrow Wilson The essential political writings. USA: Lexington Books, 2005. Krystina Benson is an Assistant Professor of Public Relations at Bond University. Her teaching focus is crisis communication and social media. Her research interests include Her professional and research interests include social media strategy development, crisis spokesperson discourse, online activism, public opinion research and the circulation of persuasive messages.