Overture to an alliance: British Propaganda at the New York World's fair, 1939-1940

Journal of British Studies

Volumn 36, Issue 3, 2014, Pages 325-354

  Cull, Nicholas J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84949132053     PISSN: 00219371     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/386139     Document Type: Article

References (151)

1. August Heckscher, When LaGuardia Was Mayor: New York's Legendary Years (New York, 1978), pp. 244-48.
2. John E. Findling, ed., Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions, 1851-1988 (Westport, Conn., 1990), pp. 293-303;
3. William Manchester, The Glory and the Dream: A Narrative History of America, 1932-1972 (Boston, 1973), 1:240-41.
4. David Geiernter, 1939: The Lost World of the Fair (New York, 1995);
5. Norman Bel Geddes, Futurama (New York, 1939).
6. Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O'Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion, 2d ed. (Newbury Park, Calif., 1992);
7. Philip M. Taylor, Munitions of the Mind: A History of Propaganda from the Ancient World to the Present Day (Manchester, 1995).
8. Michael Sanders and Philip M. Taylor, British Propaganda during the First World War (London, 1982), pp. 167-207.
9. Gilbert Parker, "The United States and the War," Harpers 136 (March 1918): 521-31.
10. C. Hartley Gratton, Why We Fought (New York, 1929), pp. 50-52;
11. Walter Millis, Road to War (Boston, 1935), pp. 63-64;
12. J. D. Squires, British Propaganda at Home and in the United States from 1914 to 1917 (Cambridge, Mass., 1935);
13. H. C. Peterson, Propaganda for War: The Campaign for American Neutrality, 1914-1917 (Norman, Okla., 1939).
14. Nicholas J. Cull, Selling War: The British Propaganda Campaign against American "Neutrality" in World War 11 (New York, 1995), pp. 53, 202.
15. Hadley Cantril, ed., Public Opinion, 1935-46 (Princeton, N.J., 1951), p. 201.
16. Robert Vansittart, Memorandum, December 31, 1936, in Documents on British Foreign Policy, 2d ser. (London, 1979), 17:775-801.
17. Public Record Office (PRO), Kew, Foreign Office (FO) 395/616, P2967/1157/150, News Department to Lindsay, ca. October 1938.
18. The Projection of England (London, 1932).
19. Philip M. Taylor, The Projection of Britain (Cambridge, 1981).
20. Frances Donaldson, The British Council: The First Fifty Years (London, 1984);
21. Enid Mcleod, Living Twice: Memoirs (London, 1982);
22. John Charmley, Lord Lloyd and the Decline of the British Empire (London, 1987), pp. 210-16.
23. PRO, FO 395/437, P732/732/150, Angus Fletcher (British Library of Information [BLI]) to Sir Arthur Willert (FO News Department), May 10, 1929.
24. Bethany Andreason, "Treason or Truth: The New York City Text Book Controversy, 1920-1923," New York History 66 (1985): 396-419.
25. Benjamin Rhodes, "The British Royal Visit of 1939 and 'Psychological Approach' to the United States," Diplomatic History 2 (1978): 197-211.
26. Thomas E. Hachey, ed., " Winning Friends and Influencing Policy," Wisconsin Magazine of History 55 (1971-72): 120-29.
27. John MacKenzie, Propaganda and Empire: The Manipulation of British Public Opinion, 1880-1960 (Manchester, 1984), pp. 96-120.
28. Sanders and Taylor (n. 4 above), pp. 194-95.
29. Paul Greenhalgh, Ephemeral Vistas: The Expositions Universelles, Great Exhibitions and World's Fairs, 1851-1939 (Manchester, 1988), pp. 57-63.
30. Kingsley Martin, Editor: A Volume of Autobiography, 1931-1945 (London, 1968), p. 210.
31. Taylor, The Projection of Britain (n. 6 above), pp. 121-22.
32. PRO, FO 371/20651, A2378/38/45, Edward Crowe (Department of Overseas Trade) to Robert Vansittart, April 12, 1937.
33. PRO, Board of Trade (BT) 60/51/2, Memo by Owen Chalkey, September 16, 1937.
34. PRO, BT 60/51/2, undated memo from 1937 on the British Official Exhibit;
35. PRO, BT 237/5, Gerald Campbell (Consul General, New York) to Edward Crowe (Department of Trade), May 6, 1937.
36. PRO, BT 60/5112, Memo of conversation between Ronald Lindsay and Robert Hudson as held October 14, 1937, dated October 18, 1937; PRO, BT 60/51/2, Memo by Hudson, November 5, 1937.
37. PRO, BT 60/52/2 minutes of London Advisory Committee on New York World's Fair; first meeting February 10, 1938.
38. PRO, BT 60/51/2, minutes of Overseas Trade Development Council re World's Fair. PRO, BT 60/52/3, New York Advisory Committee.
39. Arthur Willert, The Road to Safety (London, 1952);
40. and W. B. Fowler, British American Relations, 1917-1918: The Role of Sir William Wiseman (Princeton, N.J., 1969).
41. Taylor, The Projection of Britain, pp. 70-71.
42. PRO, BT 60/51/2, Gerald Campbell to Louis Beale, April 8, 1938.
43. PRO, F0 371/21538, A383I/421/45, Gerald Campbell to the embassy, May 2, 1938.
44. PRO, BT 60/52/1, Committee meeting of November 8, 1938, including Robert Hudson, Louis Beale, and Ronald Tree.
45. PRO, FO 371/21539, A7792/421/45, Fletcher to Rex Leeper, October 4, 1938, and A7732/421/45, Lindsay to Leeper, October 12, 1938. 27 PRO, FO 371/21548, A7769/7637/45, Roosevelt to George VI, September 17, 1938, et seq.
46. A. J. Cummings, News Chronicle, November 10, 1932, interviewed in August 1932.
47. David Reynolds, "FDR's Foreign Policy and the British Royal Visit to the USA, 1939," Historian 45 (1983): 461-72.
48. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., March 9, 1990.
49. PRO, FO 371/21548, A7673/7673/45, Lindsay to FO, October 10, 1938, and A8782/7673/45, Lindsay to Alexander Cadogan, November 1. 1938.
50. PRO, FO 371/21548, A7673/7673/45, minute by John Beith, October 11, 1938, and A8061/7673/45, minute by David Scott, October 27, 1938.
51. PRO, FO 371/21548, A8782/7673/45, Robert Wilberforce (BLI) to FO (News Department), November 12,1938.
52. PRO, FO 371/22800, A3524/27/45, Lindsay to David Scott (FO American Division), May 9, 1939.
53. PRO, FO 371/22800, A3524/27/45, Foreign Office to Lindsay, No. 254, May 20, 1939.
54. PRO, FO 115/3419/934, "Political Notes for the King" by F. R. Hoyer-Millar, as forwarded to Halifax in Hoyer-Millar to Halifax, May 23, 1939.
55. PRO, FO 395/613, P2140/687/150, minutes by Christopher Warner and Leeper, June 27, 1939.
56. PRO, FO 395/613, P2542/687/150, minute by Rowland Kenney (FO News Department), September 1, 1938, et seq.
57. PRO, FO/613, P2542/687/150 and P2964/687/150; PRO, FO 395/614, P2735/872/150, Joint Films Committee (JFC) minutes, September 18, 1938;
58. PRO, FO 395/614, P3O31/872/150, JFC minutes, October 10, 1938.
59. John Grierson, "Propaganda for Democracy," Spectator (November 11, 1938): 799-800;
60. University of Stirling, John Grierson Archive, G.3/14/7, n.d., "A Democratic Basis for Propaganda."
61. Paul Swann, The British Documentary Film Movement, 1926-1946 (Cambridge, 1988), pp. 136-42.
62. British Films for World's Fair," New York Times (October 15, 1938).
63. PRO, BT 60/52/2, minutes of London Advisory Committee for New York World's Fair, 4th meeting, December 1, 1938.
64. PRO, FO 395/614, P3215/872/150, November 17, 1938.
65. PRO, British Council (BW), 2/35. 40 Daily Express (November 23, 1938), as cited in Swann, p. 71.
66. PRO, FO 395/639, P31/31/150, Primrose (JFC) to Fletcher, March 2, 1939.
67. Forsyth Hardy, John Grierson: A Documentary Biography (London, 1979), p. 87;
68. Swann, p. 142;
69. Joan Littlefield, "British Films for the Fair," New York Times (April 30, 1939).
70. National Film Archive, London: Humphrey Jennings (director), Spare Time (GPO, 1939);
71. George Pearson (director), British Made (Tida/British Council, 1939);
72. Monthly Film Bulletin 6, no. 67 (July 1939): 153, and 15, no. 178 (October 1948): 148.
73. PRO, FO 395/639, pp. 134-35, Turnbull (British Pavilion, New York World's Fair) to Primrose (JFC), June 17, 1939.
74. PRO, FO 395/640, P2908/31/150, report by Turnbull (British Pavilion), June 24, 1939;
75. University of Stirling, John Grierson Archive, Grierson (producer), Basil Wright and Harry Watt (directors), Night Mail (GPO, 1936).
76. Cull (n. 4 above), pp. 140-41.
77. "Did Mounties and the NFB Fake Nazi Atrocity Pictures?" Toronto Globe and Mail (June 3, 1995): D1-D3.
78. Jeffrey Richards and Anthony Aldgate, Britain Can Take It: The British Cinema in the Second World War (Oxford, 1986).
79. PRO, FO 371/21538, A3831/421/45, Gerald Campbell (Consul General, New York) to the embassy, May 2, 1938.
80. For illustrations, see Mitchell Wolfson, Jr., The World's Fairs and Expositions (Miami, 1986), p. 65.
81. Greenhalgh (n. 15 above), p. 136.
82. Dominion of Canada, Department of Mines and Resources, Mines and Geology Branch, A Glimpse of Canada's Mineral Industry, Prepared for the New York World's Fair, 1939 (Ottawa, 1939);
83. Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, Exhibition of Canadian Art Under the Direction of the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (Ottawa, 1939).
84. New York Herald Tribune (April 24, 1939);
85. PRO, FO 371/22787, A2941/18/45;
86. BBC Written Archives Centre, Caversham, E.2/430, 23 April 1939.
87. PRO, BT 60/51/5; interview with Professor David Daiches, fair visitor, 31 January 1987.
88. Bettmann Photographic Archive, New York, N.Y., esp. pictures 20114893 and 20114974.
89. New York Herald Tribune (June 18, 1939).
90. PRO, FO 395/613, P687/687/150 and PRO, BW 63/9, esp. British Council to Ralph Vaughan Williams, April 27, 1939.
91. PRO, BW 63/10, Arthur Judson to British Council, June 13, 1939;
92. New York Times (June 11, 1939);
93. Brooklyn Eagle (June 10, 1939).
94. War, Peace and Propaganda," March of Time, vol. 5, no. 11 (June 1939).
95. New York Times (April 25, 1939);
96. PRO, FO 395/639, PI865/31/150, Owen Chalkey (the embassy) to Department of Overseas Trade, April 28, 1939.
97. PRO, 395/639, P2134/31/150, Wilberforce to Leeper, May 22, 1939;
98. New York Times Magazine (May 21, 1939).
99. PRO, FO 395/639, P1865/31/150, minute by Kenney (News Department) undated, ca. late April 1939.
100. PRO, FO 371/26169, A42/42/45 et seq.
101. Henry Hathaway, Lives of a Bengal Lancer (Paramount, 1934);
102. George Stevens (director), Gunga Din (RKO, 1939).
103. Scottish Record Office, Edinburgh (SRO), Lothian Papers, GD 40/17-347;
104. Lothian to Malcolm Macdonald, November 2, 1938;
105. PRO, Colonial Office (CO), 852/171/6;
106. PRO, FO 371/22786, A472/18/45, Macdonald to Colonial Empire Marketing Board, Department of Trade (DoT), India Office, etc., January 14, 1939;
107. PRO, CO 852/188/1, 188/2, and 118/3. "PRO, CO 852/243/1; PRO, FO 395/639, P1673/31/150, Leeper to Wilberforce, May 1, 1939;
108. P2072/31/150, Wilberforce to Leeper, May 11, 1939; P238O/31/15O, Fletcher to Leeper, May 21, 1939;
109. New York Sun (May 27, 1939).
110. PRO, CO 852/244/1: Oakland Tribune (July 28, 1939);
111. Seattle Sunday Times (August 6, 1939);
112. Providence Journal (June 5, 1939).
113. MPRO, FO 395/640, A3472/31/150, interim reports by Sir William McLean and minute by John Balfour, August 30, 1939.
114. PRO, Cabinet Office (CAB), 24/288, CP.153 (39), Cabinet memorandum: "Foreign Publicity," July 10, 1939.
115. PRO, FO 395/640, P2908/31/150, report by T. G. G. Turnbull (British Pavilion), forwarded to the News Department, June 24, 1939.
116. PRO, FO 395/640, P340/31/150, Turnbull (British Pavilion) to A. F. Primrose (JFC) July 12, 1939; FO 371/24225, A383/8/45, embassy report on British Pavilion, December 1939.
117. PRO, BT 60/52/4, for a complete run of weekly reports on the British Pavilion.
118. John Wheeler-Bennett, Kinx George VI (London. 1958), p. 380;
119. Rhodes (n. 9 above), p. 205.
120. Washington Post (May 18, 1939).
121. Doris Fleeson in Washington Times Herald (May 16, 1939).
122. Reynolds (n. 29 above). Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Raymond Clapper Papers, Boxes 19 and 144.
123. New York Herald Tribune (June 11, 1939);
124. Wheeler-Bennett, p. 387.
125. PRO, FO 371/22801, A4323/27/45, Fletcher to Leeper, June 12, 1939. n Wheeler-Bennett, p. 38.
126. PRO, FO 414/276, A4443; on Stimson, see Rhodes, p. 211. 78 PRO, FO 371/22800, A7769/7637/45, Lindsay to FO, June 12, 1939.
127. PRO, FO 371/22801, A4435/27/25, Sir Godfrey Haggard (New York) to Lindsay, June 14, 1939; A4443/27/45, Lindsay to Halifax, June 20, 1939.
128. New York Times (June 13, 1939).
129. PRO, FO 371/22801, A4467/27/45, Fletcher to Central Department, FO, June 13, 1939.
130. PRO, FO 371/22800, A7769/7637/45, Lindsay to FO, June 12, 1939.
131. PRO, FO 371/22814, A4583/98/45, minute by Victor Perowne, July 3, 1939.
132. National Archives, Washington, D.C., Sound and Motion Picture Branch, RG 200.
133. War, Peace and Propaganda," March of Time 5, no. 11, (June 1939);
134. PRO, FO 395/657, P2551/151/150, Fletcher to F. R. Hoyer-Millar, June 9, 1939;
135. "Britain Woos America," Propaganda Analysis 2, no. 10 (June 10, 1939): 73-80.
136. March of Time 5, no. 11 (1939).
137. PRO, FO 115 3419/585, Lothian to Halifax, September 28, 1939.
138. SRO, Lothian Papers, GD40/17, Box 400, Alexander Faulkner to Lothian, February 23, 1940;
139. PRO, FO 371/22788, A6404/18/45, esp. FO to Joseph Kennedy, September 30, 1939, and Lothian to Robert Hudson, November 15, 1939.
140. PRO, FO 371/24225, A456/8/45, minute by T. North Whitehead, January 30, 1940. ""PRO, FO 371/22788, A6404/18/45.
141. New York Times (December 22, 1940).
142. PRO, Ministry of Information (INF), 1/4, divisional progress report, April 1940; PRO, FO 371/24228, A2603/26/45;
143. PRO, FO 371/24229, A3154/26/45, meeting at Ministry of Information, May 2, 1940. 1)2 PRO, BW 63/13 to 20; PRO, BW 63/14;
144. Lord Lothian, American Speeches (Oxford, 1941), p. 46.
145. SRO, Lothian Papers, GD40/17, Box 398, Lothian to Leo Amery, January 9, 1940.
146. New York Times (May 22, 1940).
147. PRO, FO INF 1/5, divisional progress report, May 27, 1940. %PRO, FO 371/24225, A3356/8/45;
148. PRO, FO 371/24232, A4877/26/45.
149. PRO, FO 371/24225, A3526/8/45, C. M. Pickthall to Lothian, July 13. 1940, and A4238/8/45;
150. New York Times (July 5-16, 1940).
151. For the full story of this overt effort, see Cull (n. 4 above).