Marcuse’s OWI job was to shape how the enemy was depicted in American propaganda

Evidence

But he had hardly arrived in the east when he was put to work on elaborating the anti-Semitism project in New York, the American Jewish Committee having in the meantime agreed in principle to support it. On 10 November 1942 a telegram from Marcuse reached Horkheimer in Los Angeles: `Office of War Information is offering me position in Washington Salary 4600 Shall learn particularly by Wednesday My attitude unchanged Cordially … Marcuse.’ … The next day, Marcuse sent off a letter explaining that the job would have to be carried out in Washington, since the work would involve studying microfilms of European newspapers, short-wave radio broadcasts and consular reports which were not available outside government premises. His task would be to suggest ways of presenting the enemy in the press, in films, in propaganda, and so on. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 321

Categorization

• XREF: Links to the Institute’s Studies in Prejudice project and the later analysis of the manipulative, propaganda-susceptible character type.