Newspapers were a primary resource for information during Reconstruction. The mainstream newspapers reflect the anti-black attitude of the country as a whole and had racist advertisements and anti-black stances. There were also newspapers run by black people for the black community.
During Westward Expansion, pioneers were inspired to go west by the idea that the west was a place where anyone could make it big, and land ownership and upward mobility was available for all. Propaganda, such as ads for land and published travel logs, acted as motivation for Americans to take to the west.
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell demonstrated his new invention to transmit voice over wire, the telephone, at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Unlike the telegraph, another important method of communication in the Gilded Age, the telephone allowed people to communicate privately and directly. Bell's company (AT&T, American Telephone and Telegraph) allowed Americans to communicate locally and across the country.
During the expansion of American cities, America developed "the most extensive free public library system in the world". The libraries made print media more accessible, but few of the poor city dwellers were able to take advantage of the libraries.
The labor strikes of the 1800s and 1900s were extensively covered by the media. The Homestead steel mill strike piqued the nation's interest in particular. Most of the coverage was negative and linked the boycotts with anarchy and defiance of the law.
Upton Sinclair initially wrote The Jungle about the evils of capitalism, but instead it furthered the progressive agenda. It described the unsanitary conditions of meatpacking factories, from rats and diseased animals to the bodies of workers who'd fallen in being processed into meat. The Jungle became an instant sensation, and the public uproar it caused became a driving force towards the enactment of pure food and drug legislation and a federal meat inspection law.
Among the most popular entertainment and mass culture mediums for Americans in the 1920's were movies and radio. Movie stars Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, and Charlie Chaplin were admired by the public. The radio, a recent invention, became the source of news, sermons, soap operas, sports, comedy and music.
One of the most substantial parts of the New Deal was the Works Progress Administration, which encompassed work from infrastructure projects to the arts. One part of the WPA was the Federal Theatre Project, which was intended to employ unemployed actors, directors, playwrights and designers by organizing and producing theatre events. At one point, the FTP employed 12,700 people and put up around 1,000 productions, allowing millions of Americans to see live theatre for the first time.
Posters were used as a medium during World War II to bolster support for America's involvement in the war. The propaganda was meant to create hatred for the enemies and endorse the allies. The posters also promoted public efforts like war production, victory gardens and war bonds.
Based on African American rhythm and blues music, rock ‘n’ roll became popular in the 1950's. Teens were the primary listeners, and the attitudes towards rock 'n' roll were a clear illustration of the "generation gap" - teens liked it, while parents thought it was satanic. Elvis Presley was a rock ‘n’ roll icon, known as the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”. Among other popular artists were Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Johhny Cash and Ray Charles.
The Vietnam War became one of the most publicized wars America fought, and has been called "The Television War". TV was an important source of news for Americans during the war. While TV stations were initially pro-war, after the Tet Offensive, the media became increasingly critical of the "unwinnable" war. The war was also covered by photographers, in particular, Nick Ut won a Pulitzer Prize for his "Terror of War" photograph, portraying children running from a napalm attack at the Trang Bang village.
In 1984, Ronald Reagan had one of the most successful presidential ad campaigns, a set of commercials called "Morning in America", "Bear in the woods", and "America's back". "Morning in America" is his most remembered ad, which showed an idealistic montage of Americans playing in their yards, going to work and raising a flag. His opposition, Democrat Walter Mondale's ad "Fighting for your Future" portrayed an America which was the opposite of what Reagan's ads pictured. Minutes after the first plane hit the North Tower on September 11, 2001, all major news stations had footage of the World Trade Center. The coverage that followed, of the second plane hitting the South Tower, became one of the most iconic moments in recent TV history. Newspaper covers were also full of stark headlines and pictures of the collapsing, emblazoned towers.
The 2008 presidential election marked the first time candidates used social media as a significant part of their campaigns. Barack Obama, who would become the 44th president, was the most successful in using Facebook, Myspace and other social media websites to connect to young voters - he won 70% of the under 25 vote. Neither of his opponents, Hillary Clinton in the primary nor John McCain in the general election, were able to use social media with the same success.
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