Existing comment:
Delivering the Government's Message
With commercial radio still several years away, the ability of public speakers to inform and persuade audiences carried great importance. Prior to U.S. entry, Carrie Chapman Catt had opposed the war but afterwards, like many other suffragists, she embraced the war effort and served as chairman of the Educational Propaganda Department. This arm of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense sought to train female speakers to disseminate the government's message to the people, particularly the foreign born, a group that continued to draw attention from the government: "The messages must be taken to the less educated and more apathetic portions of the population and much of it must done among persons of foreign birth." |