Block, SkipCaptcha, apieditor, Automoderated users, Bots, edit, ratelimit-exempt
59,161
edits
Changes
→External links: Spelling, Grammar, and General Cleanup
[[Image:Library of Congress - Poster - Four Minute Men.jpg|thumb|130px|right|4 Minute men--A message from Washington]]
[[Image:Library of Congress - Poster - Four Minute Men.jpg|thumb|130px|right|4 Minute men--A message from Washington]]
The '''Four Minute Men''' was a [[World War I]] era program created to help mobilize [[public opinion]]. It was a division of the Federal [[Committee on Public Information]].
[[Image:1917 Thrift Stamp.jpg|thumb|130px|right|1917 Thrift Stamp]]
[[Image:1917 Thrift Stamp.jpg|thumb|130px|right|1917 Thrift Stamp]]
The Four Minute Men were also sometimes referred to as '''Flying Squadrons'''.<ref>[http://cudl.colorado.edu/luna/servlet/detail/UCBOULDERCB1~58~58~425680~124500:Four-Minute-Men-news Four Minute Men news]</ref>
==Purpose==
==Purpose==
The role of the Four Minute Men was to get out a unified message that the government wanted people to hear, in an effort to manufacture support for the war.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SvQ-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA24 The Four Minute Men of Chicago], Page 24-25</ref> They also urged citizens to purchase Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3qhRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA796 The American Year Book: A Record of Events and Progress, Volume 1918]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Uv1tAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT87 The Untold History of the United States, Volume 1: Young Readers Edition, 1898-1945]</ref>
The role of the Four Minute Men was to get out a unified message that the government wanted people to hear, in an effort to manufacture support for the war.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SvQ-AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA24 The Four Minute Men of Chicago], Page 24-25</ref>
The Four Minute Men were local volunteers who spoke at public gatherings, [[fair]]s, [[vaudeville]]s and [[motion picture|motion picture houses]] for four minutes. Speakers received material from which to prepare speeches. Speeches combated adverse publicity and [[German]] [[propaganda]], supported fund drives, called for support of the [[Red Cross]] and the [[YMCA]], and promoted Liberty Loans, [[rationing|food conservation]], and [[gardening|victory gardens]]. They also urged citizens to purchase Liberty Bonds and Thrift Stamps.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3qhRAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA796 The American Year Book: A Record of Events and Progress, Volume 1918]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Uv1tAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT87 The Untold History of the United States, Volume 1: Young Readers Edition, 1898-1945]</ref>
[[Image:4-Minute-Men.jpg|thumb|130px|right|A Message From the Government at Washington]]
The program ended a few weeks after the war ended in 1918, having enrolled 75 thousand men in its program. In 18 months they had given 1,555,000 speeches to 134,000,000 people at a cost to the government of only $140,000.
==Legacy==
The Four Minute Men were entrusted with a function of trying to create a boost of morale in support of the war.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=b14wAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA90 The Public School Journal, Volume 38]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=YaNCAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA14 Bulletin, Issues 40-41; Issue 46]</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0wlEAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA136 The United States in the First World War: An Encyclopedia]</ref>
However, that morale boost may have come with a cost. [[George Creel]], CPI chairman, cynically believed that "catch-phrases constitute a staple article of diet, especially in a democracy",<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=aTFnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA15 The War, the World and Wilson], by [[George Creel]]</ref> leading to the creation of both the Four Minute Men and what would develop into the universally condemned [[Sound bite]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=j0ZKDK4Bg8kC&pg=PA432 Breaking the Heart of the World: Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the League of Nations]</ref><ref>[http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4970/ Four Minute Men: Volunteer Speeches During World War I]</ref>
[[Image:Chaplinandfairbanks.jpg|thumb|130px|right|Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks at a Liberty Bond rally, 1918]]
[[Image:Chaplinandfairbanks.jpg|thumb|130px|right|Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks at a Liberty Bond rally, 1918]]
==Notable Members==
==Notable Members==
* William McCormick Blair, Director<ref>[https://archive.org/details/fourminutemenofc00unit The Four Minute Men of Chicago], Page 13</ref> until August 1918.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3N0MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA240 A History of Wayne County in the World War and in the Wars of the Past]</ref>
* William McCormick Blair, Director<ref>[https://archive.org/details/fourminutemenofc00unit The Four Minute Men of Chicago], Page 13</ref> until August 1918.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=3N0MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA240 A History of Wayne County in the World War and in the Wars of the Past]</ref>
* William H. Ingersoll, Director
* William H. Ingersoll, Director
==Further reading==
==Further reading==
==External links==
==External links==
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D02E3DB103FE433A25757C0A9649C946996D6CF&legacy=true BAR "HYMNS OF HATE."; Instructions to Four-Minute Men Urge Emphasizing of War Facts], [[The New York Times]]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D02E3DB103FE433A25757C0A9649C946996D6CF&legacy=true BAR "HYMNS OF HATE."; Instructions to Four-Minute Men Urge Emphasizing of War Facts], [[The New York Times]]
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=c8xDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP3 General Bulletin, Issues 1-2], General Suggestions to Speakers; Division of Four Minute Men, Committee on Public Information, 1917 - May 22nd, 1917
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=c8xDAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP3 General Bulletin, Issues 1-2], General Suggestions to Speakers; Division of Four Minute Men, Committee on Public Information, 1917 - May 22, 1917
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:World War I]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]
[[Category:Propaganda]]
[[Category:Progressive Era]]
[[Category:Progressive Era]]