Specific black propaganda operations were of considerable value. However, black propaganda is more difficult to appraise than overt propaganda. Analytical and historical studies, gauging the results obtained by Black operations in relation to their cost, are not yet available. (Certain particular operations are described later in this book, pages 208 and 237.)
=American Operations: OWI and OSS.= Long after the outbreak of war in the Far East, and even after the coming of full war in Europe, neither the civilian nor military portions of the American government possessed propaganda facilities. This is not as serious as it may sound, for the United States is lucky in possessing a people well agreed on most fundamentals. The commercial press, radio, magazine, and book publishing facilities of the country for the most part expressed a national point of view without being prodded. (The isolationist issue never brought in the question of America's basic character.) Before the war, and even after the government entered the field, private American news and publishing continued to engage in operations which had the effect if not the intention of propaganda. OWI at its most vigorous could scarcely have reached the audience that had been built up by the _Time-Life-Fortune_ group, not to mention the _Reader's Digest_, both of which became truly global in coverage during the war years. American movies already had a world-wide audience. The propaganda turned out unwittingly by such agencies may not have had the gloss and political smoothness of Dr. Paul Josef Göbbels best productions, but it had something no government propaganda had--the possession of a readership all of which was unmistakably voluntary, obtained by the appeal of authentic interest and entertainment--and proved by an ability to charm money out of people's pockets.
The American problem of propaganda was thus not a simple one. Total psychological warfare was out of reach if we were to remain a free people. Otherwise the simple-seeming thing to have done would have been to put a government supervisor in every newspaper, radio station and magazine in the country, and coordinate the whole bunch of them together in the national interest. Simple-seeming. Actually, such an attempt would have been utter madness, touching off a furious political fight within the country and meeting legal obstacles which would have remained insurmountable as long as there was a Constitution with courts to enforce it. The simplest official action which the United States could take was therefore hedged about by the presence of private competitors who would watch it enviously, jealous of their established rights and privileges, and by the operational interference which vigorous private media would have on public media.