The U.S. Navy helped Disney make Our Friend the Atom. Photo Courtesy Mark Langer.

The CIA was not the only one to believe we needed propaganda films. We know from Mark Langer’s excellent Animation World Network article “Disney’s Atomic Fleet” from April 1998, that Our Friend the Atom was a tool to counter opposition to the military use of atomic weapons by showing peaceful uses of atomic energy and by explaining it can be a harmless friend that can benefit mankind. Disney’s staff met with government officials while the work was being developed. The article goes on to show how Disney took his propaganda efforts further by building a fleet of “atomic” submarines at Disneyland. Vice-president Nixon, Walt Disney and a Navy admiral were on the maiden voyage of the ride before millions of viewers on ABC television, June 14, 1959. This is a fine example of Militant Liberty.

The films discussed were made at a time when many Americans were really scared of the red menace and the evil empire. The right wing fringe saw Commies everywhere. We had the House Un-American Activities Committee and Joe McCarthy in the Senate holding hearings (a common mistake is to say McCarthy was involved with the House group). I can imagine conservative businessmen on corporation boards suggested to their friends on other boards that all corporations should do something positive to fight the influence of Russia at home and abroad. It makes perfect sense for defense contractors to do their part by making small contributions toward the production of propaganda tools (films, etc.). Since the films were shown in classrooms, to civic groups and in company lunchrooms, it was good public relations to say, “This important message was brought to you by…” at the end of each film.

It appears that by the late ‘50s the emphasis of the conservative pro-American/anti-Communist film had shifted away from using animation and the themes in the works discussed. There were new dangers at home and abroad to worry about that were better dealt with through live-action footage. Harding produced Brink of Disaster(1972) that tells us how the 1960’s activism “threatens” American moral, religious and ethical principles. CBS photographed Harry Reasoner “without any flowers in my hair” taking a tour of the Haight-Ashbury in The Hippie Temptation (1967), an anti-LSD propaganda classic with contempt for those who reject our country’s mainstream values during a time of war. Operation Abolition (1960) was made to show the horrors of anti-American protesters “rioting” in San Francisco’s City Hall. The ACLU was so outraged by the distortions of truth in the film that they produced Operation Correction (1961), a film that explains what actually happened. It was a peaceful sit-in protesting the House Un-American Committee’s hearings in May 1960 in San Francisco. It ended with protesters being doused with fire hoses and dragged out to paddy wagons. The conservative film claimed those who opposed the committee were either Communists or Communist dupes. The “riot” footage showed a peaceful sit-in being disrupted by angry police.

Animated anti-Communist propaganda didn’t die out completely. Tom Sito, an animator/director, told me: “In 1984 during Ronald Reagan’s ‘Evil Empire’ buildup, Hanna-Barbara had a show called Challenge of the GoBots, a toy based show similar to the Transformers. The main GoBot Leader-1 could turn from a robot man into a F-14 fighter plane. In one episode his enemy was a robot called Red Menace, who brainwashed other GoBots so that they didn’t know they could turn into trucks, planes, SUVs and the like. Red Menace would turn from a man into a Soviet style MIG-21.” Dr. Norman S. Cohen, an uncle who once headed Occidental University’s history department (retired), wrote me, “Messing with the heads of kids is a great propaganda technique.”

Researching this paper was an exciting challenge as most of the material discussed was new to me and it has not been discussed in print before. I feel I’ve made important discoveries and have begun to understand what happened during the Cold War. I suspect a great deal more is to be learned about animation used as propaganda. There may even be some surprises to discover in well known animated films that we now assume were made solely for entertainment. This study also raises important moral and ethical questions. I’m personally uncomfortable with the knowledge that our government and corporate interests have used a great art form for covert purposes. I’m saddened at animation's loss of innocence.

The author would like to thank the individuals who provided material for this report. Frances Stoner Saunders’ research has opened a new chapter in animation history. Vivien Halas has been kind enough to check this text for errors and has provided a wealth of information. Chris Robinson provided his notes on Sutherland Productions and other material. Over two-dozen other people made important contributions. Among them were Michael Barrier, Jerry Beck, Howard Beckerman, Paul Etcheverry, Mark Kausler, Mark Langer and Tom Sito. I’d also like to thank the 19 people who sent e-mails to awn.com regarding my controversial article Was Walt Disney a Saint, An Evil Sinner Or The Devil Incarnate? The Truth About Some Of Those Nasty Disney Stories! Some of their comments inspired me to search the Internet for other questionable Disney stories. I found more, plus my first reference to Saunders’ book. Without their letters this study into Cold War propaganda might not exist. Finally, I’d like to thank Ron Diamond and Heather Kenyon for making awn.com an exciting Website.

The Cultural Cold War: The CIA and the World of Arts and Letters by Frances Stonor Saunders. New York, New York: The New Press, 2000. 528 pages with eight pages photographs. ISBN: 1-56584-664-8. (US$18.95)

Nine of John Sutherland's films can be viewed and downloaded from www.archive.org/movies/prelinger.php

Karl Cohen is a frequent contributor to Animation World Magazine and is the author of Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators (1997, McFarland). He teaches animation history at San Francisco State University and is president of ASIFA-SF.