---
title: Showing America to the Foreign Press
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/22-showing-america-to-the-foreign-press/
description: Showing America to the Foreign Press, 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/)

# Showing America to the Foreign Press

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/)

[← Other Divisions](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/21-other-divisions/) [The Fight in Foreign Countries →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/23-the-fight-in-foreign-countries/)

**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)

IN many respects, one of the most effective ideas of the Committee on Public Information was the bringing to the United States, from time to time, of delegations of foreign newspaper men in order that they might "see with their own eyes, hear with their own ears," and upon their return be able to report fully on America's morale and effort. These trips were of incalculable value in our foreign educational work, for not only did the visitors send home daily reports by cable and by mail, but upon their return wrote series of articles and even went upon the lecture platform. Most important, everything was written on the basis of what had been seen by the eyes of the foreigners, with the individual correspondent's own interpretation of the facts in the manner that would most appeal to his own reading public.

Mexico was selected for the initial experiment in national entertaining, and Mr. Robert H. Murray, our resident commissioner, assembled the following representative group of Mexican editors:

From the City of Mexico, Senor Felix Palavacini of El Universal, Senor Manuel Carpio of La Voz, Senor Zamora Plowes of A. B. C., Senor Manero of El Economista, and Senor Alducin of El Excelsior, and from other principal cities the correspondents of these papers: El Dictdmen, Vera Cruz; La Prensa, Pueblo; El Informador, Saltillo; El Liberal, Saltillo; ElProgreso, El Liberal, and Nueva Patria, all of Monterey, La Prensa, and Tampico.

Lieut. P. S. O'Reilly, borrowed from the Cable Censorship by reason of a long association with Spanish-speaking peoples, took the party in charge for the Committee, and a tour was arranged that covered the United States.

Their itinerary included the following cities and points of interest: New Orleans, Louisiana; Atlanta, Georgia; Washington, D. C., where the delegation wras received and addressed by President Wilson and where the Pan-American Bureau entertained it and the Mexicans were afforded an opportunity of seeing many governmental works; Annapolis, for inspection of the United States Naval Academy; Camp Meade, for inspection of a typical United States cantonment; Philadelphia, for a view of the Hog Island Shipbuilding Yard; South Bethlehem, for inspection of the Bethlehem Steel Works; New York City, for inspection of the United States Military Academy at West Point and numerous war factories in and around New York; Boston, for inspection of shipbuilding plants; Schenectady, for inspection of the plant of the General Electric Co.; Buffalo, for inspection of the Curtiss Aviation Co. ; Detroit, for view of various plants making Liberty motors and 'planes; Chicago, for view of various steel-plants, packing-houses, etc.; St. Paul and Minneapolis, for study of the milling centers; Yakima, Washington, for a view of a United States reclamation project; Seattle, for study of west-coast shipbuilding; Portland, for study of west-coast shipbuilding, and San Francisco for the same purpose; Los Angeles, and back to Mexico via San Antonio and Laredo.

The Mexicans came in distrust and suspicion, also in a vast and amazing ignorance of the extent and might of the United States. While Mr. Murray was working very effectively with the Committee's daily cable and mail service, literature, etc., it was still the case that the pro- German press of Mexico had Republican attacks in the Senate to serve as a sort of answer, and the visiting editors were in doubt as to the exact facts. It was amusing to witness their surprise when they saw our cantonments, our ships, our aviation-fields, and great munition-plants.

"Why," exclaimed one of them, "we had been led to believe by your Senators that you did not have a ship or an airplane."

At every point we treated them with absolute frankness, showing everything, concealing nothing, and in the end they were enthusiastic believers not only in our power, but in our idealism.

Chambers of commerce, boards of trade, various other civic and business organizations and business firms and individuals throughout the country aided splendidly in making the Mexicans feel at home and im impressing them with the good will and friendship which the people of the United States felt for the people south of the Rio Grande. Many business firms and individuals entertained them and contributed not a little to making them, on their return to their native country, enthusiastic "boosters" for the United States. What won them absolutely, however, was the speech of the President, made to them simply and straightforwardly as they grouped about him in the White House, clear and ringing in its exposition of our ideals, aims, and purposes. This speech, more than any other one thing, killed the German lie in Latin America, for we gave it complete circulation in South and Central America as well as in Mexico.

The Swiss came next, and getting them to come was remarkable proof of the strength that Mrs. Whitehouse had acquired in Switzerland. The government itself had to approve the visit, also the personnel, and there were delicate questions of neutrality involved, as well as personal prejudices on the part of pro-German editors. The six 16 **9 men in the party were statesmen as well as journalists, and I have never seen a group that had fairer or more open minds. They saw and listened calmly and critically, and because of this judicial silence there were times when we felt that the trip was not a success. Mr. Norman de R. Whitehouse, however, who was conducting the party, having deserted his own affairs to render the service, assured us that all was going well, and his word came true. A night or two before they sailed the Swiss colony of New York gave a dinner in honor of the distinguished visitors, and not one of the six but made a speech that was ungrudging in its praise of America and its belief in our ideals.

The Italian journalist came next and Captain Merriman, in Rome, selected the following representative members of the Italian press: Aldo Cassuto of Secolo, Antonio Agresti of Tribuna, Paolo Cappa of Awenire d'ltalia, Orazio Pedrazzi of Nuovo Giornale, Franco Rainieri of Giornale d'ltalia, Pietro Solari of Tempo, Leonardo Bitetti of Idea Nazionale.

The fourth group to arrive came from the Scandinavian countries and included representatives of the principal papers in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Not only did we show them America at war, but we made it a point to see that they came into contact with all those communities in which there were large Scandinavian populations. Mr. Bjorkman handled the tour with rare judgment and carried it through to complete success. The armistice terminated our plans in this direction, and necessitated the cancelation of the invitations that had already been extended to the newspaper men of Holland and Spain. The itineraries arranged by the Italians, the Swiss, and the Scandinavians followed the same general plan as the one prepared for the Mexican editors.

There can be no question as to the signal success of these visits, for the effect of them was signal and lasting. The very fact that we were willing to let our war progress be seen and judged was impressive at the outset, and the magnitude of "America's Answer" did the rest. Countless columns in foreign newspapers were earned for us that could have been gained in no other way, and every column carried weight because it came from the pen of a writer in whom the readers had confidence.

Equally good results were obtained from similar visits to the American firing-line in France. The newspaper men of Spain, of Holland, of England, and of the Scandinavian countries were selected by the resident commissioners and on arrival in France were received by the Paris office and shown every detail of the American effort from landing-port to front-line trench. Every man of them carried back to his country the message, "America cannot lose/'

The tours of the foreign editors having proved so wonderfully successful, it was decided that a like plan should be pursued with reference to the foreign correspondents on duty in the United States. Mr. Walter S. Rogers of the Foreign Cable Service took the matter up with them, and an association was formed that included these members : R. Bonnifield, Central News, London; P. P. Brown and E. W. Kelly, Paris Herald; W. F. Bullock, Henry N. Hall, and J. Andrew White, London Times; P. S. Bullen and S. J. Clarke, London Daily Telegraph; H. Delmas and Henri Collin Delavaud, Agence Havas, France; W. W. Davies, La Nacion of Buenos Aires; Frank Dilnot and J. W. Harding, London Daily Chronicle; Dr. F. Ferrera, Corner e della Sera, Rome; Sir John Foster Fraser, Scotch newspapers; Andrea Ferretti, L'Idea Nazionale, Rome; Leopold Grahame, El Heraldo, Cuba; Y. Hatada, Asahi, Japan; Frank Hillier, London Daily Mail; E. W. M. Hall, Daily Sketch, London; W. J. Herman, Westminster Gazette, London; Marcel Knecht, Maison de la Presse, Paris; S. Lauzanne, A. Plottier, and Leon Levy, Le Matin, Paris; S. Levy Lawson and Wilmer Stuart, Reuters, Ltd., London; Capt. S. Loewy, L9 Information, Paris; A. Maurice Low, Morning Post, London; Warren Mason, London Daily Express; Norman MacCallum, Canadian Press Association; Ernest Montenegro, El Mercurio, Chile; E. Rascovar, Central News, London; Romeo Ronconi, La Prensa, Buenos Aires; A. Rothman, Australian Press Association; Severo Salcedo, La Nacion, Santiago, Chile; Van Buren Thome, Mainichi, Osaka, Japan; T. Walter Williams, Daily Mirror, London; P. W. Wilson, London Daily News.

Our first effort was to answer the German lie that America's shipbuilding was a "bluff." Permission for the unprecedented step of showing the secret processes of certain American shipbuilding yards was finally obtained from the government departments concerned, and the correspondents were taken on a tour which embraced the yards of the New York Shipbuilding Co., at Camden, N. J.; the American International plant at Hog Island, Pa.; the Squantum and Quincy plants of the Fore River Shipbuilding Co., outside of Boston, Mass.; the Brooklyn Navy Yard; and the Newark plant of the Submarine Boat Corporation. Each correspondent who made the trip was under no coercion as to the character of the matter he was to write, and the only pledges asked were with respect to certain secrets of construction.

Judging from the publicity to the American shipbuilding program which resulted, the trip was an immense success. All of the foreign correspondents were more than anxious to present America's viewpoint and more than enthusiastic over America's accomplishments. Matter written by these correspondents was published all over England, France, Italy, and South America, and reproduced in countries still more distant.

Necessary permission having been secured, the foreign correspondents were next sent on a tour of the Middle West to study aviation progress. At Detroit the plant of the Packard Motor Co. — engaged in making Liberty motors —was thoroughly inspected, the first time that such a permission had been granted. The army authorities, thoroughly awake to the propaganda value of the plan, relaxed their stern rule against civilians and granted the correspondents fullest freedom at the special testing-field outside of Detroit. The plant of Henry Ford, making cylinders for the Liberty motors, was inspected.

The correspondents then traveled to Chicago. They were greatly interested in the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, were made to realize something of the gigantic responsibilities which the United States had shouldered in its self-assumed task of feeding the world by a detailed view of the Union Stock Yards and the great packing-plants of Chicago. One day was also spent in investigating the making of munitions at the plant of the International Harvester Co. Another day was spent visiting the great war plant of the Rock Island Arsenal.

The third trip undertaken was in response to earnest pleas from the correspondents that they be permitted to visit briefly with President Wilson himself. The President consented to receive the correspondents at the White House, and in a remarkable interview laid bare his own thought as well as his conception of the ideals of America. The correspondents were then taken to Old Point Comfort, where they saw the plant of the Newport News Shipbuilding Co., inspected the heavy-artillery school at Fortress Monroe, saw the training of naval aviators at Langley Field, Hampton Roads, and the vast embarkation works in and around that harbor.

The fourth trip was a corollary to the Detroit-Chicago- Rock Island inspection. It was designed to show the correspondents certain American aviation-plants in operation. The correspondents were taken to Dayton, where they went over the plant of the Dayton-Wright Co., and as many as desired were afforded the opportunity of going aloft in a Liberty 'plane. The same inspection and the same opportunity were afforded them at Buffalo, where they went through the great plant of the Curtiss Co.

It was not only the case that each trip resulted in long cable stories and special articles sent by mail. From the very first tour a new note was apparent in the despatches —a note of enthusiasm, of courage, of victory. From what they had seen themselves they were able to discount the attacks of partizans, and "calamity howls" ceased to go out on the cables to alarm the Allies and frighten the neutrals.

It should be added that Mr. Perry Arnold, who conducted the correspondents on each trip, also prepared numerous articles covering what had been seen, which were extensively circulated in Europe and South America.

[← Other Divisions](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/21-other-divisions/) [The Fight in Foreign Countries →](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/creel-how-we-advertised-america-1920/23-the-fight-in-foreign-countries/)

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/).