What propaganda did the US use in the 1960s?

Answer 1

Cold War Propaganda reached its heights in the 1950s and 1960s. Communism was condemned both as an ideology and a social system. Every medium from motion pictures down to children's comic books was used to portray an America under the heel of a communist Dictatorship.

Answer 2

In the 1960s, the US was involved in the Vietnam war, and the government (as well as the military) was utilizing radio, TV, newspapers, and magazines to promote the assertion that America was winning. There was no internet nor any social media back then, so it was somewhat easier for the president to make sure the right message got out. Skeptics, who opposed the war, did exist; but they had a difficult time making their views known to a mass audience. The government was far more able to use the mainstream media to shape and advance a pro-war message. The administration wanted the public to keep supporting the Vietnam war, so the president and his aides used the media to explain the war's importance (to fight communism in Asia) and to keep insisting the US was successfully driving out communist forces.

One reason the government was successful at controlling the message in the early to mid-1960s is that back then, not many reporters were able to go over to Vietnam, and those who did tended to see only what the US Military wanted them to see. Further, many members of the press relied on "official sources" (government spokespeople) for information, and early in the 1960s, whatever these government sources claimed was seldom given very much scrutiny. But that changed later in the decade: by the late 1960s, it became very obvious to people such as TV journalist Walter Cronkite that the government's claims were not accurate. Mr. Cronkite, a powerful and influential news anchor, went over to Vietnam and what he saw did not match up with what the government had told the public. After he spoke out, some other members of the press did too, and there was more skepticism after that. Still, the government remained the main purveyor of pro-war and pro-military propaganda, continuing to make use of the media as much as possible-- a fact that did not change whether the president was a Democrat (Lyndon Johnson) or a Republican (Richard Nixon).