Walter Lippmann and the American Century — 12 Captain Lippmann, Propagandist

1. 1. Blankenhorn recruited Lippmann for the Military Intelligence Branch's propaganda unit to spread Wilson's ideals to German and Austrian troops.
2. 2. Lippmann defined propaganda as a 'frank campaign of education' to explain America's unselfish war aims, distinguishing it from sinister manipulation.
3. 3. Wilson was irritated by Lippmann's criticism of the CPI and his ties to The New Republic, calling his judgment 'most unsound' and 'entirely unserviceable.'
4. 4. Lippmann wrote over five million copies of eighteen different leaflets in September and October 1918, including one promising prisoners good rations that became the most effective American propaganda.
5. 5. Lippmann identified four Americans who existed in European consciousness: Wilson as a mystical figure, House as the human intercessor, Hoover as effective and idealistic, and Pershing as the troops' hero.
6. 6. Lippmann drafted precise definitions of the Fourteen Points overnight for House's armistice negotiations with the Allies, working from a copy obtained from the Paris Herald.
7. 7. Wilson decided to lead the peace delegation himself, sidelining House and the Inquiry team, which left Lippmann without a major role at the Paris Peace Conference.
8. 8. Lippmann became disillusioned with the peace conference, describing it as a 'cyclone of distortion' where propaganda and censorship made truth indistinguishable from rumor.
9. 9. Lippmann left Paris in January 1919 after being denied a place on the Inquiry by Bowman and realizing he could not work effectively under Wilson's distrust.