Propaganda: Selling A War Exhibit Opening

Explore the imagery and music that inspired a generation of Americans to take up arms in Europe during the first World War–The War to End All Wars.

Exhibit opens March 24 and will close in October.

Propaganda: Selling A War takes visitors back to a time when neutrality–staying out of war was the cultural mindset. After all, America was built on the foundation of neutrality. It was a value engineered by first President George Washington as a means of  survival. Newly-founded America could not support the financial burden of wars. But as America’s financial systems became stable, the mindset of neutrality endured.

This exhibit explores how this American value would be transformed through media and how propaganda would “sell” American’s on going to war.

Experience the rise of “duty to country” through media of pressure, empathy, and patriotism. And see how public opinion was changed and war gained acceptance through this media.

Support for this exhibition is provided by the general operations support grants from the United Cultural Fund, a program of the Broome County Arts Council; the Conrad and Virginia Klee Foundation; the Zoos, Botanical Gardens and Aquariums Program, administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreational, and Historical Preservation; and the New York State Council for the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.