3-14-00

Objectives: Today we will begin thinking about technology and World War II. I will show you some clips from an influential propaganda film from the war period, Prelude to War. We will discuss three dimensions of technology and the Americna imagination during World War II. First, drawing on Sandels, we will discuss how deferred consumer desires during the war led to dreams of a postwar technological utopia that were ultimately disappointed. Second, we will look at how new developments in military technology changed the way that Americans understood and experienced the war. And third, we will look at how innovations in communications technology facilitated wartime propaganda, spreading the message that World War II was a "good war."

Questions:

1) How did mobilization for World War II affect production of automobiles, household appliances, and other consumer goods?

2) What role did advertisers play in promoting consumer hopes for a postwar technological utopia?

3) According to Sandels, how did the postwar technological reality measure up to the utopian visions that had been generated during the war?

4) How do you think advances in motion picture technology affected America's propaganda efforts during World War II?

5) How do you think advances in aviation and air bombardment affected Americans' perceptions of home front peril during World War II?

6) Since World War II, how have advancements in military technology changed our perception of combat and of warfare generally?