America influencing the hearts and minds of Europe An assessment of the influence of Progressivism on the message of the Committee on Public Information in Italy between 1917-1919

On April 13, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson of the United States enacted Executive Order 2594, which created the Committee on Public Information. This Committee had three main goals during the First World War. The first goal was to influence public opinion in the United states to favour a pro-war sentiment. Wilson won the 1916 elections by saying he kept America out of the war, but on April 6, 1917, he declared war on Germany regardless, which irked the American population. The second goal was to influence the flow of information regarding America’s war effort in the media. The Secretaries of War, Navy, and State considered this to be of the highest importance due to the media publishing stories negatively impacting America’s image. The third goal, which followed shortly after the establishment of the Committee, was to spread Progressivist and Wilsonian ideals to foreign countries. These ideals can be summarised as spreading democracy, capitalism, and freedom. This was done under the direct order of the President who wanted to make the world safe for democracy following World War I. By extent, the President considered the Committee of Public Information to be a pivotal part in his foreign affairs campaign. This thesis investigates the Progressivist origins in the United States and creates a narrative surrounding the Committee’s domestic approach and its approach in Italy to discern whether Progressivism had an impact on the Committee’s message and provide a comparative analysis. It details the reasons for establishing an office in Italy and how the CPI tried to influence public opinion. The sources used for this research include letters and books from George Creel, the chairman of the CPI, Charles Merriam, the leader of the CPI in Italy, and Woodrow Wilson. Posters and paintings are also analysed to try and discern Progressivist notions embedded within them. However, the Committee also used organisations like the YMCA and the American Red Cross to carry out their work for them, thus these are also analysed within this thesis. In Italy, the branch office was established in April 1918, under the leadership of Charles Merriam, directly appointed by George Creel. Both these men had Progressivist backgrounds, which showed in their methods. Domestically the Committee aimed at promoting the war effort and influence how people thought of the war to make them support it by buying bonds for example. In Italy, however, the Committee had to use other methods to achieve their goals. The Italian government at this moment in history was considered antithetical to American ideals, thus the Committee ignored the government, which it dubbed ‘Official Italy’ and influenced the public directly, which was called ‘Real Italy’. This thesis concludes that the Progressivist era influenced the decisions and methods used by Merriam to advocate Wilsonian ideals in Italy. The lack of attention given in scholarly literature to the Committee in relationship to Wilson’s foreign policy is unjustified, since the Committee played a pivotal role in the international relationship between Italy and the United States.