Propaganda & Mass Persuasion: Foreign Newspapers leads to Americanization

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Foreign Newspapers leads to Americanization

What is the real definition of an American citizen? Is it a person that was born here? Or maybe its someone that simply lives and works here. An American citizen should be a person that lives in America and contributes to the well being of America.

In present day society, it is very common to encounter someone who was not born in this country. During the period between 1890 and 1920, immigrants in America were either Eastern European or from southern Italy. The white, native Americans felt the need to change their heritage. They even went as far as having a desire to control the foreign language press. The language barrier presented a problem. Showing support for the press did work out in our advantage.

"One way to Americanize the immigrant is to invite his co-operation and use his own institution in the process. The immigrant press was useful to the United States in winning the World War. It should be quite as valuable, it would seem, in time of peace." (Park, "Controlling through Alliance", page 3)

At that time, America was willing to work with the foreign langauge press. The Inter-Racial Council and the Foreign Language Bureau went into effect. Both organizations became an outreach for foreign and international policies.

The foreign language press became a great tool in American society. It became the backbone for international affairs concerning America and opened up many foreign born citizens. It has become a common fact that America is the "melting pot of America", and it all started with these European immigrants.

1 Comments:

Blogger A. Mattson said...

A very good post. You presented the key point quite well. The foreign language press could be a useful tool for the integration or "Americanization" of the foreign population. The lesson of the CPI's use of the press during the war had an impact during the 1920s.

3/11/2009 10:56 PM  

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