G.I. Pamphlets, 1943-1945
Between the depression era and the Cold War, the war years are typically depicted as a time when all other considerations except the prosecution of the war were swept away. However, the G.I. pamphlet series was prepared under the direction of the Army’s Division of Information and Education between 1943 and 1945 “to increase the effectiveness of the soldiers and officers as fighters during the war and as citizens after the war.” The accent in the pamphlets is on what the postwar world would look like, and reassuring servicemen that they would have a place in postwar America.
The complete text of each pamphlet is available which could easily suck up most of my day going over some of these such as the one I have pictured above,
What Shall Be Done About Japan After Victory.
We know that the Japanese will be defeated. But though our victory will remove the immediate danger that threatened us in 1941, it will not of itself make us secure against a repetition of that danger. That will depend mainly upon our firmness and wisdom in handling Japan after the victory is won.
A day will come when Japan will lie stricken and harmless. Then will be the time to employ the treatment that will cure the Japanese once and for all of the disease of creeping aggression.
