On the other hand, the U.S. propaganda pieces told a somewhat different narrative. The U.S. public was without a doubt exposed to pro-capitalistic, pro-American propaganda, but the public was also exposed to propagandistic pieces containing criticisms of the U.S. since the media was not under the total control of the government. The cartoon on the left explicitly describes how the U.S. characterized itself in the media. The Western world, depicted with a modern building and the UN, broadcasts a message relating to peace. The Soviet Union, shown with the Kremlin and a wall with the Soviet sign engraved on it, is then shown broadcasting back “Warmongers!” Opposite to how the Soviet propaganda illustrate the U.S., U.S. portrays itself as one of the peacemakers and the Soviet Union as the aggressor. Not all cartoons produced during the Cold War were strictly pro-American. The cartoon on the right, titled “It’s okay — We’re hunting Communists,” depicts the House Committee on Un-American Activities as a car, driving through the sidewalk and running pedestrians over. A political cartoon by Herbert Lawrence Block, or Herblock, is an example of propaganda material that went against what the government promoted. Due to the relative freedom of the press in the U.S., these cartoons were able to be created and distributed to the public. Alhough the majority of the media supported the government and anti-communism, there were also propagandistic media that denounced the United States.
Some propaganda pieces in the mass media in the U.S. worked to reflect prevalent anti-communist sentiments while also reinforcing them simultaneously through powerful metaphors about communism. The film Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a strong example of one. The Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a science fiction movie from 1956 that superficially tells the story of an alien invasion in a town in California. The protagonist recounts his memories of the terrifying invasion, explaining how invading aliens had replaced their victims with an emotionless copy of them. Throughout the movie, the protagonist is helpless as more people become aliens and ultimately becomes the last man standing. The helpless situation provokes similar fear from the audience. Science fiction aside, the movie implied several political themes and metaphors. For example, the aliens secretly invading the town is a direct reflection of the prevalent fear of communist spies infiltrating the U.S. in the same, undercover way the aliens might. The emphasis on the emotionless nature of the alien clones reinforces the American image of communists. As communist countries are often characterized by dystopia, the fully-alien-turned town toward the end of the movie is unsettling and dystopian—as if nothing is wrong. The aliens, while trying to persuade the protagonist into giving up, explain how life is so much better without emotions and how it will create a perfect society— a description that resembles the idealistic, utopian viewpoint of communist societies. Outside of his town, people believe he had gone insane because he displays hysteria quite reminiscent of the anti-communist hysteria in the American society. This movie is an example of more covert propaganda melted in popular media. It merely implies the political subtexts in the concepts of the movie; it is unknown to the audience if the movie is truly political or not. However, the correlations do exist and those implied political subtexts are engraved in the viewer’s minds.
The movie industry was not free from the consequences of propaganda. When the House of Un-American Activities Committee was investigating Hollywood for its probable role in spreading communist propaganda in the late 1940s and 1950s, ten of the people being questioned refused to testify. They were referred to as the Hollywood Ten. After they were identified and imprisoned, Hollywood implemented a blacklist, declaring that they would not knowingly hire any communists. The Hollywood blacklist and actions related to it demonstrate how information and media were regulated by the government. HUAC’s actions are also similar to how McCarthy accused numerous people in the government without much evidence. Media produced by subversive individuals were encouraged to be boycotted. As the omission of ideas and censorship is also part of developing propaganda, the Hollywood blacklist is an important example of how information and viewpoints were limited.
One of the most well-known propaganda outlets, the Voice of America, was a radio broadcast that sought to influence the international public. It streamed music, provided analysis and news, and explained the intentions of America to the outside world. The program was supported by the government through immense taxes— around one hundred twenty-five million dollars in 1951. The radio’s international influence is seen in its abundance of listeners around the world. Twenty-four percent of the adult population in France were at least occasional listeners, if not regulars. Six million people in Germany were regular listeners of the radio, and seven hundred thousand people in Sweden were occasional listeners. The Voice of America was even able to pervade across the Iron Curtain and spread its influence. Its Russian broadcasts began in February 1947, and have continued ever since. Although the exact numbers are unclear after the jamming of the radio signals in April 1949, the Soviet Union had a regular audience of at least ten million people before the jamming. The Voice of America worked around the jammed frequencies and was still able to reach the Soviet Union public. Defectors of the Soviet Union described the prevalence of Voice of America among the citizens as well. These broadcasts provided information that contradicted the Soviet characterization of the U.S. to Soviet public. Propaganda like the Voice of America was also important in influencing key countries such as France and Italy. Some even claim that the Voice of America can be credited for “fostering the growing strength and determination” in the world and the strong condemnation of communist aggression in Korea. To its desired effect, this American propaganda successfully built a prosperous image of the U.S. to the outside world, reducing the negative characterizations about capitalism and the United States altogether.