U.S. Army Censors Press in World War I (26 JUN 1917)
When American forces landed in France on June 26, 1917, French newspapers thoroughly covered the story, including details about the arriving units, their strength, and port of debarkation. These good-news stories were meant to boost the spirits of the French people, but General John J. Pershing, AEF commander, argued the stories put American forces at risk. Major Nolan agreed with his commander, having personally witnessed the consequences of military information released by the press. During the Spanish-American War, when Nolan was aide-de-camp to the commander of the Fifth Army Corps in Cuba, the press leaked U.S. plans to supply Cuban guerrillas with weapons and horses. The operation had to be scrapped as a result.
To prevent a similar compromise, Major Nolan established the G-2-D Censorship and Press Section to prevent the exposure of sensitive military information to the enemy, including anything that might “injure morale in our forces here, or at home, or among our Allies,” or “embarrass the United States or her Allies in neutral countries.”
The Press Section of G-2-D was led by 44-year-old Frederick Palmer, a personal friend of General Pershing. Having covered nearly every military conflict in the world since the 1890s, Palmer was arguably the most experienced war
correspondent in the American press community. Already accredited by the British, he had been covering the war in Europe since late 1914 and supported the appointment of a civilian censor to work with Army forces. Pershing convinced Palmer to forego a $40,000 annual salary at the New York Herald to take a major’s commission at an annual salary of $2,400 to head the Press Section.
Under Palmer’s direction, the Press Section supervised accredited war correspondents and even provided their transportation and billeting. Unlike the British and French, the AEF allowed the press unrestricted access to the troops. However, Palmer reviewed their dispatches, insisting on accuracy and censoring any mention of specific units, their locations and capabilities, aircraft, supplies, lines of communications, and conditions or morale of the troops. He also suppressed information that cast American soldiers in a negative light, such as an incident in which a German prisoner was killed during capture. Most journalists voluntarily cooperated with Palmer’s requirements, which were backed by the newly enacted Espionage Act of June 15, 1917, as well as several executive orders. However, at least three correspondents were banned from access to the AEF for publishing articles not reviewed by the censors.
Conflicted, Palmer reportedly considered resigning his post numerous times. While he wholeheartedly supported the need to safeguard military secrets, he struggled to find balance between satisfying the American citizens’ right to the truth and preventing erosion of popular support for the war. He lamented being “cast for the part of a public liar to keep up the spirits of the armies and peoples on our side” and often “squirmed with nausea as he allowed propaganda to pass.” He was also criticized by commanders who felt the restriction against publishing information about specific units meant their military successes were being ignored.
Despite his internal struggle, Palmer undoubtedly played a key role in saving the lives of American soldiers and ensuring the support of the American public for the United States’ first large-scale war effort. General Pershing recognized this when he awarded him the Distinguished Service Medal, making Palmer the first war correspondent so decorated.
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Article by Lori S. Stewart, USAICoE Command Historian. New issues of This Week in MI History are published each week. To report story errors, ask questions, request previous articles, or be added to our distribution list, please contact: TR-ICoE-Command-Historian@army.mil.
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