George Creel (December 1, 1876 – October 2, 1953) was an investigative journalist, a politician, and, most famously, the head of the United States Committee on Public Information, a propaganda organization created by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. He said of himself that "an open mind is not part of my inheritance. I took in prejudices with mother's milk and was weaned on partisanship."[1]
Creel began his career as a reporter for the Kansas City World in 1894 before starting his own newspaper, the Kansas City Independent, in 1899.
He later took jobs with The Denver Post (1909–1910) and the Rocky Mountain News (1911–1917). In June 1912, Creel was appointed Police Commissioner of Denver by the recently-elected reform mayor, Henry J. Arnold. Creel immediately used the office to launch several ambitious reform campaigns—such as ordering police officers to give up their clubs and nightsticks,[2] as well as a campaign to destroy the red-light district in downtown Denver,[3] while providing a tax-funded "rehabilitation farm" for women leaving prostitution.[4] Mayor Arnold overrode several of Creel's controversial orders,[5] and in February 1913, when Creel accused city policemen[6] and Fire Commissioner Thomas F. McGrew[7] of public drunkenness, Mayor Arnold suspended Creel from office.[8] Creel returned to work for the Rocky Mountain News until 1917, when President Wilson made him head of the United States Committee on Public Information during World War I.
He published his memoirs of the experience, How We Advertised America, in 1920, and would write 14 other books during his lifetime. He described American propaganda by saying "Our effort was educational and informative throughout, for we had such confidence in our case as to feel that no other argument was needed than the simple, straightforward presentation of facts." [9]
Creel was known to have said "expression not repression" about censorship. Creel gathered the nation's artists to create thousands of paintings, posters, cartoons, and sculptures promoting the War. He also gathered support from choirs, social clubs, and religious institutions to join "The Worlds Greatest Adventure In Advertising." He recruited about 75,000 "Four Minute Men," who spoke about the War at social events for an ideal length of four minutes, considering that the average human attention span was judged at the time to be four minutes. They covered the draft, rationing, bond drives, victory gardens and why America was fighting. These men thereby helped to maintain the nation's morale. It was estimated that by the end of the war, they had made more than 7.5 million speeches to 314 million people.
Creel wrote books as well as speeches. How the War Came to America, translated into many languages, sold almost seven million copies and included Wilson's war message. He created pamphlets that were handed out with help from the Boy Scouts of America. Almost 60 million pamphlets, booklets, and leaflets were distributed. Although not all people changed their minds about the War due to his efforts, he succeeded in reaching the people.
He served on the San Francisco Regional Labor Board in 1933 and became chairman of the National Advisory Board of the Works Progress Administration in 1935.
He was an active member of the Democratic Party and ran against the novelist Upton Sinclair for the post of Governor of California.
In his last years Creel was a fervent anti-Communist, working with Senator Joseph McCarthy and Richard Nixon during the Red Scare of the late 1940s.[10]
He was married to Blanche Bates from 1912 until her death in 1941.[11] Afterward, Creel resided at the Bohemian Club in San Francisco.[12]