Explanation:
A while back, I had a conversation with a young independent film producer lamenting the lack of specific World War II newsreel footage she needed at the National Archives.
Told by a number of her colleagues that the Universal Newsreel film collection had "tons" of World War II–related footage, she went to the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, and started perusing video copies in the Motion Picture, Sound, and Video research room. She didn't find much, however, and went home dejected.
Somehow, she tracked me down to share her disappointment in Universal's lack of coverage of certain critical early wartime events. After she told me what she was looking for, I explained the probable reason why—fire. Back in 1978, a nitrate film fire destroyed almost three years of Universal releases that documented 1941–1943, the exact timeframe she was interested in. After that sank in, she wondered if I could suggest a plan B.
"Yep," I said, "United News . . . also known as the United Newsreel."
This motion picture newsreel covers the Allied activities of the war (and one year of postwar events) from June 1942 through September 1946. Each weekly release contains one to nine news stories and averages a bit over nine minutes in length. It has the added bonus of a complete and "swell" propaganda-type narration.
At any rate, the conversation continued for a while, but you get the idea. If you are looking for World War II–related moving images, in glorious black and white, with a wartime patriotic audio track, make sure you check out the National Archives' United News newsreel collection.
The Backstory of the Reel Story
What follows is a story of how this newsreel came to be and how to find and use the film now to help tell future generations about the Second World War.
In times of war, the manipulation of thought and emotion is considered essential to generate a high level of morale, commitment, unity, and focus within soldiers, their families, and the “home front” in general. About a month after World War II started, President Franklin D. Roosevelt articulated the need to convey to the American populace a more accurate understanding of six crucial aspects of the conflict: the issues of the war, the enemy’s goals and characteristics, the concept of the Allied coalition, the importance of domestic production, the role of civilians on the home front, and the realities faced by the fighting men.
To make this happen, Roosevelt established the Office of War Information (OWI) by Executive Order 9182 on June 13, 1942. This order consolidated the functions of the Office of Facts and Figures, the Office of Government Reports, and the Division of Information of the Office for Emergency Management. The Foreign Intelligence Service, Outpost, Publication, and Pictorial branches of the Office of the Coordinator of Information were also transferred to OWI.
In other words, OWI became the official arm of government propaganda. All of the activities previously covered by the above-mentioned offices, as well as over 3,000 employees, were placed under the direction of Elmer Davis, formerly a prominent CBS radio newscaster. Davis was keenly aware of the need to interpret the President's war aims onto the silver screen in order to make the motion picture an indispensable weapon of democracy.
