---
title: The Committee’s “Aircraft Lies”
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/06-the-committee-s-aircraft-lies/
description: The Committee’s “Aircraft Lies”, from How We Advertised America by George Creel.
section: FRAME
---

![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg)

[Library](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/) · Book · [How We Advertised America](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/)

# The Committee’s “Aircraft Lies”

This text

- **Work:** [How We Advertised America](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/)
- **Author:** George Creel
- **Published:** 1920

Full details

- **Rights:** Published in the United States in 1920, more than 95 years ago, so in the public domain in the United States; the Internet Archive lists the scan as not in copyright. Creel died in 1953, so the text is also in the public domain in countries that count the author's life plus 70 years.

Chapters

1. [Dedicatory](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/01-dedicatory/)
2. [Foreword](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/02-foreword/)
3. Part I: The Domestic Section
4. [The “Second Lines”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/03-the-second-lines/)
5. [The “Censorship” Bugbear](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/04-the-censorship-bugbear/)
6. [The “Fourth of July Fake”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/05-the-fourth-of-july-fake/)
7. [The Committee’s “Aircraft Lies”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/06-the-committee-s-aircraft-lies/)
8. [Relations with Congress](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/07-relations-with-congress/)
9. [The Division of News](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/08-the-division-of-news/)
10. [The Four Minute Men](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/09-the-four-minute-men/)
11. [The Fight for the Mind of Mankind](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/10-the-fight-for-the-mind-of-mankind/)
12. [The Battle of the Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/11-the-battle-of-the-films/)
13. [The “Battle of the Fences”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/12-the-battle-of-the-fences/)
14. [The War Expositions](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/13-the-war-expositions/)
15. [The Speaking Division](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/14-the-speaking-division/)
16. [The Advertising Division](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/15-the-advertising-division/)
17. [The “Americanizers”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/16-the-americanizers/)
18. [Work among the Foreign-Born](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/17-work-among-the-foreign-born/)
19. [A Wonderful Fourth of July](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/18-a-wonderful-fourth-of-july/)
20. [The “Official Bulletin”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/19-the-official-bulletin/)
21. [Division of Women’s War-Work](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/20-division-of-women-s-war-work/)
22. [Other Divisions](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/21-other-divisions/)
23. [Showing America to the Foreign Press](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/22-showing-america-to-the-foreign-press/)
24. Part II: The Foreign Section
25. [The Fight in Foreign Countries](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/23-the-fight-in-foreign-countries/)
26. [America’s World News Service](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/24-america-s-world-news-service/)
27. [The Foreign Mail Service](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/25-the-foreign-mail-service/)
28. [Fighting with Films](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/26-fighting-with-films/)
29. [Breaking through the Enemy Censorship](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/27-breaking-through-the-enemy-censorship/)
30. [France, England, and Italy](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/28-france-england-and-italy/)
31. [The Work in Mexico](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/29-the-work-in-mexico/)
32. [The Work in Switzerland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/30-the-work-in-switzerland/)
33. [The Work in Holland](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/31-the-work-in-holland/)
34. [The Work in Spain](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/32-the-work-in-spain/)
35. [The Work in Scandinavia](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/33-the-work-in-scandinavia/)
36. [The Work in the Orient](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/34-the-work-in-the-orient/)
37. [The Work in South America](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/35-the-work-in-south-america/)
38. [The Russian Campaign](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/36-the-russian-campaign/)
39. Part III: Demobilization
40. [After the Armistice](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/37-after-the-armistice/)
41. [“Americanizing” Mittel Europa](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/38-americanizing-mittel-europa/)
42. [Confusion and Neglect](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/39-confusion-and-neglect/)
43. Appendix
44. [The American Newspaper Publishers’ Association](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/40-the-american-newspaper-publishers-association/)
45. [“Savagery” vs. Sanity](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/41-savagery-vs-sanity/)
46. [Publications of the Committee on Public Information in the United States](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/42-publications-of-the-committee-on-public-informat/)

[← The “Fourth of July Fake”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/05-the-fourth-of-july-fake/) [Relations with Congress →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/07-relations-with-congress/)

**Content note:** Quotes wartime anti-German language, including "Hun", and period terms for racial and national groups. This object is shown as it was published. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was)

THE only other charges of inaccuracy against the Committee were based upon announcements with respect to the progress of the aircraft program. On February 21, 1918, we released a statement from the Secretary o£ War in which this assertion was made: "The first Americanbuilt battle-'planes are to-day en route to the front in France. This first shipment, though in itself not large, marks the final overcoming of many difficulties met in building up this new and intricate industry."

Almost immediately it developed that one 'plane only had been delivered for shipment to the American Expeditionary Forces, and that even this single machine was not yet on the water. Straightway the storm broke and the press vied with the Senate in denunciation of the Committee for its "brazen attempt to deceive the public." Utterly ignoring the report of Admiral Gleaves, the attack upon the Fourth-of-July statement was revived in order to give keener point to my own personal disregard for truth.

A sure defense was at hand had we cared to use it. The information as to the shipment of battle-'planes did not originate in the Committee, but came directly from Col. Edward A. Deeds, the officer in virtual charge of aircraft production at the time. More than that, Secretary Baker himself had formally authorized its issuance, accepting responsibility for its accuracy. The original copy was in our possession, carrying the initialed approval of these officials and containing certain corrections in Colonel Deeds's handwriting. All that was necessary to establish the Committee's complete innocence was to produce this sheet.

As a matter of course, we did not take advantage of our position. The Secretary of War stood at the head of the armed forces of America, while upon the shoulders of Colonel Deeds, in large measure, rested the burden of the great aircraft program. Public confidence in them was more important than public confidence in the Committee, and if, by accepting the role of scapegoat, we were able to guard executives from the delays of harassment, it seemed a service. We made no defense, therefore, permitting press and partizans to continue in the assumption that the Committee was primarily responsible.

The facts in the case did not come out until October 25th, when Judge Charles E. Hughes reported the results of his investigation into the whole conduct of aircraft production. We were absolved from all responsibility, and one of the two counts returned against Colonel Deeds was that he had given "to the representatives of the Committee on Public Information a false and misleading statement with respect to the progress of aircraft production for the purpose of publication with the authority of the Secretary of War." Not a paper, nor yet a Senator, took sufficient cognizance of this vindication to withdraw their charges against the Committee, and, after a cautious interval, even commenced to repeat them.

I would not have it believed, however, that we sought, by our course, to conceal dishonesty or to protect bad faith. I had then, as I have to-day, the fullest confidence in Colonel Deeds's honor and high purpose, and his fault, if it can be called that, was an amazing enthusiasm that persisted in discounting the possibilities of delay. At the time he gave the statement, machines had been shipped from the factory bound for France: what happened was that they were suddenly diverted to Gerstner Field to undergo further radiator tests. Out of his certainty that quantity production was achieved at last, and in his eagerness to relieve the impatiences and anxieties of the public, Colonel Deeds simply failed to make sure that the machines were safely in the hold of a ship before making his announcement.

At about the same time, Colonel Deeds also gave four photographs to the Division of Still Pictures, a branch of the Committee that tried to meet the demands of the press for photographs taken by the Signal Corps in France and in those factories in the United States where private camera-men were not allowed. The pictures showed airplane bodies and engines, and under the thrall of Colonel Deeds 's enthusiasm one of the young assistants in the division put captions on them that were admittedly flamboyant and overcolored.

This fault was freely admitted by us, and the four pictures were withdrawn. The services of the captionwriter were dispensed with, and orders given that all future pictures should be released with no more descriptive matter than the bare titles supplied by the Signal Corps. A Senate committee, however, continued to attack us because we had not attached to the pictures some such legend as this: "Do not be deceived, good people. These engines and bodies that you see before you are not battle- 'planes."

The next explosion in connection with airplane photographs occurred in the following July. It is interesting as showing how painstaking hands can fashion a lie out of whole cloth. On the floor of the Senate one day, Reed of Missouri made the charge that the Committee on Public Information had issued a statement to the effect that Secretary Baker, while in France, had seen "one thousand American airplanes in the air." Also that the Committee, in order to support this false claim, had issued photographs of "penguins," a training-'plane that rises only a few feet from the ground. Further, on the word of one Woodhouse, editor of a flying-paper, Reed charged that the Committee had deliberately attempted to make it appear that these "penguins" were battle-'planes.

Our investigation instantly proved the utter falsity of the whole rigmarole. The statement about Secretary Baker and the one thousand American airplanes was not a product of the Committee at all, but merely a story in the Paris Herald. As for Woodhouse, his explanation as to the manner in which we practised deception was followed by this naive remark, "I am taking this for granted and have nothing to base it on."

Utterly without faith in Reed, but in order that the record should be kept clear, I sent him this letter, together with a bundle of photographs :

July 17, 1018. HON. JAMES A. REID, United States Senate, Washington, D. C. DEAR SIR:

In The New York Times of July 13th, under the heading, "Says Creel Misled Public; Reed on Assertion that Baker Saw 1,000 American 'Planes in France," there appeared an article that commenced as follows:

"Senator Reed read to the Senate to-day parts of the testimony of Henry Woodhouse of the Aero Club of America before the Senate Aircraft sub-committee to prove that pictures and statements sent out by the Committee on Public Information to prove that Secretary of War Baker, on his trip to France, saw 1,000 American airplanes in the air, were false and misleading."

I am sure that you will be glad to know that the Woodhouse charges and inferences are without the slightest foundation in truth. Never at any time did this Committee, or any other department of government, issue any statement to the effect that Mr. Baker "saw 1,000 American airplanes in France." It may be, as alleged, that the Paris Herald printed the statement, but, if so, it came through no official source and had no official sanction.

I send you herewith copies of all aircraft photographs sent to us from France, together with the captions, submitting them as a complete answer to the charge that we issued pictures of non-flying machines in an attempt to make the people believe that they were fighting-'planes. As you can see for yourself, the majority of the pictures show machines high in the air, and in all cases of ground-machines the caption is explicit.

These photographs were made by the Signal Corps operators in France, the captions were written by Signal Corps officials in France, and our release of them in this country is a purely mechanical function.

These photographs come to us as part of regular deliveries from the Signal Corps in which the entire activities of the American Expeditionary Force are covered by the camera. No one branch of the service is put before another, and the inference that the Signal Corps in France is lending itself to a campaign of deceit is as untrue as it is unjust.

Very truly, [Signed] GEORGE CREEL, Chairman.

As a matter of course, Reed paid no attention to the letter. Having gained circulation for his falsehoods, thereby gratifying his hatred of me and his antagonism to the Administration, his interest ended. Nothing is so keen a commentary upon the honesty of this whole inimical Senate group as the fact that not once was I called before a committee, either for explanation or defense.

To sum up then, the entire attack upon the credibility of the Committee on Public Information centered in these four charges:

(1) Falsely informing the people that the first transports were attacked by submarines.

(2) Issuing a false statement as to the shipment of airplanes to France.

(3) Issuing four photographs of airplane production designed to make the people believe that battle- 'planes were being produced.

(4) Releasing a false statement that Secretary Baker saw one thousand airplanes in France, and supporting the lie by releasing pictures of ground-machines.

The answer to the first is found in the report of Admiral Gleaves; the answer to the second in the report of Judge Hughes; the answer to the third is the misguided enthusiasm of a young subordinate, and the answer to the fourth is contained in the letter to Senator Reed.

Consider for a moment! More than six thousand separate and distinct news releases, each one dealing with an importance; some half -hundred separate and distinct pamphlets, brimmed with detail; seventy-five thousand Four Minute Men speaking nightly; other hundreds delivering more extended addresses regularly; thousands of advertisements; countless motion and still pictures, posters and painted signs; war expositions; intimate contacts with twenty-three foreign-language groups; the Official Bulletin, appearing daily for two years; and in every capital of the world, outside the Central Powers, offices and representatives, served by daily cable and mail services rich in possibilities for mistake.

All done by an organization forced to function from the moment of its creation, working at all times under extremest pressure, handicapped by insufficient funds and harassed by partizanship.

And only the four charges!

The record stands unparalleled for honesty, accuracy, and high purpose, and in itself is an enduring testimonial to the sincerities of the thousands of men and women who made possible the accomplishments of the Committee.

[← The “Fourth of July Fake”](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/05-the-fourth-of-july-fake/) [Relations with Congress →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/07-relations-with-congress/)

How We Advertised America, George Creel. Published in the United States in 1920, more than 95 years ago, so in the public domain in the United States; the Internet Archive lists the scan as not in copyright. Creel died in 1953, so the text is also in the public domain in countries that count the author's life plus 70 years. [Provenance and rights](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/).