Political Propaganda

Propaganda Political Propaganda

Introduction to Political Propaganda

Propaganda for distinctly political ends is as old as history. The Bible, for example, relates that the Assyrian king Sennacherib attempted to terrify the Kingdom of Judah into surrendering by the use of threatening propaganda (see 2 Kings 18-19). Julius Caesar wrote De Bello Gallico (On the Gallic War) to enhance his reputation in Rome and to speed his rise to power.

The quality of the propaganda literature of the American Revolution is outstanding. Before the Revolution the letters circulated by the patriot Samuel Adams and such pamphlets as Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania by John Dickinson sought to inform and unify American opinion in the quarrel with Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was a masterpiece of rational propaganda intended to crystallize public opinion at home and justify the controversial American cause abroad. During the period when that cause seemed closest to military defeat, the radical writer Thomas Paine wrote a series of pamphlets titled The Crisis, which rallied and sustained American morale for the long struggle. After the war, when controversy raged over the adoption of the federal Constitution, the articles written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay, and known collectively as The Federalist (see Federalist, The), explained the new constitution and persuaded Americans to ratify it (see Constitution of the United States). The Federalist was also an effective propaganda instrument among the citizens of the new American nation.” (1)

Resources

Notes and References

Information about Political Propaganda in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia

Guide to Political Propaganda

Hierarchical Display of Political propaganda

Politics > Politics and public safety > Politics
Politics > Electoral procedure and voting > Organisation of elections > Election campaign > Election campaign publicity
Education And Communications > Communications > Communications policy > Control of communications > Disinformation