The Big Picture through an Exceptionalist Lens

“America on the Move” (TV-549) opens with scenes of industrial machines busy at work, shiny steel wheels and lathes turning, smoke stacks belching, serious-faced men hard at their labors with heavy construction equipment sculpting the earth. Over this the narrator proclaims that after the war “there was a renewed sense of energy in the land” that lends itself to a renewed dedication.¹ His rising voice then carries viewers to scenes of the nation’s capital that provide a frame for his claim: “History has selected us [America] for a decisive role in the drama which will determine whether freedom itself will endure.”² Full of pride, the narrator confides that “a position of leadership is forced on us, for we are the strongest and most productive nation on earth,” later adding, “We are less than two centuries old but no nation has ever been more strongly stirred by the knowledge of its own story.”³ It was a haughty proclamation, but it described the prevailing post-1945 mood in the United States, which spoke of a proud and exceptional people. It was a prevalent attitude that many Americans felt set us apart from the rest of the world. This chapter examines how during the first half of the Cold War The Big Picture provided a tool to cultivate that exceptional identity, exploiting the consensual feelings of a specialness harbored by most Americans. As the dialogue makes clear, encouraging a sense of exceptionalism was necessary to rationalize the nation’s turn toward increased militarism and power projection in the postwar era. It was a key component of Cold War morale-boosting campaigns.

Exceptionalist Ideals

That exceptionalist perspective evolved from sources that are traceable to earlier times in American history. The concept of an exceptional people appeared on the shores of the New World with some of the first European arrivals. John Winthrop declared in 1630 that his new colony in Massachusetts was to be “as a Citty [sic] upon a Hill, the eies [sic] of all the people are upon [sic] us.”⁴ Clinging to that belief, these early Americans accepted that they were truly unique. This they evoked in their Declaration of Independence from England and their separation from the old connections with Europe. Recognizing an emerging distinctiveness by the late 1700s, essayist Hector St. John Crèvecoeur observed, “The American is a new man, who acts upon new principles; he must therefore entertain new ideas, and form new opinions.”⁵ Wearing that difference like a badge, by the turn of the next century Americans easily accepted the concept of a Manifest Destiny, the expression of their God-given right to multiply and expand across the blank canvas of their continent to establish a new nation. Affirmation of that exceptional identity echoed in the words of French diarist Alexis de Tocqueville, who in 1835 observed that America offered the world the best examples of equality and democracy in effect. He included in his observations that “religion is considered as a political institution which powerfully supports the maintenance of a democratic republic among Americans.”⁶ Thus religion found a central place in the exceptional expression, as it would in a number of Big Picture episodes. As the nation grew and its global role gradually changed, many Americans held fast to that idea of exceptionalism, which came to form the core of its identity. That ideal followed over the decades through victories in successive wars, which seemed to confirm Americans’ belief in a unique destiny. The exceptional vision then came into sharper focus as World War II drew to a close in 1945, when America bore a triumphal banner proclaiming its resounding victory over the evils of fascism and began flexing its political and economic muscles.

As this national identity gained shape over time, it evolved into a consensus, based on an amalgam of prevailing characteristics that represented an exceptionalist ideology. Widely accepted by postwar American society, the slate of prescribed and insinuated attributes melded together the concepts of antistatism, antisocialism, anticommunism, anticolonialism, populism, and individualism, as well as educational and economic opportunity, meritocracy, and rejection of class consciousness. Blended in were other beliefs such as assigned gender roles and the centrality of the nuclear family and religion. Various conservative groups in the United States, such as the Freedoms Foundation, Christian evangelicals, a willing Eisenhower administration, and the armed forces, pressed these beliefs into service during the Cold War with the Soviet Union. Combined, they contributed to the core of an imagined identity that Washington elites expected the military and the public to accept and The Big Picture to communicate.

Collectively, the slate of exceptional attributes represented an ideology that resonated throughout American life, shaping its social, cultural, and political behaviors, attitudes, and self-identity during the first two postwar decades. Many of these ideas threaded through the narratives of Big Picture episodes such as “America on the Move” (1962). The episodes collected in this chapter portray an America working to identify who it was and to define its role in the postwar world. They address this imagined exceptional community, and as historians Benedict Anderson and Michael Kackman both note, “media of various forms are central to the constitution of a national identity.”⁷ Whether it is language, print media, radio, or film, each mode can serve as a vehicle to transmit the message that will collectively bind a community. It was the golden age of television, and The Big Picture could sell the concept of a unifying exceptional American identity through its program to members of the military and the public the better to mobilize them for the ideological struggles of the Cold War.

As the narrator in “America on the Move” suggests, this initiative carried with it a great urgency presented by “obligations of leadership which the conditions of the world have forced upon us.”⁸ It was a commitment that echoed the words of President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address given in January 1961 when he pledged “that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”⁹ The contemporary political landscape of the globe, particularly in the Third World, was changing and presenting significant challenges to the powers of the East and the West as they struggled to cope. The media had dubbed 1960 the “Year of Africa” in recognition of the seventeen nations on that continent that had thrown off colonial rule and started on the road to independence. The United States and the Soviets each rushed to provide compass points of direction. For the Americans, however, it was also a time fraught with paradox. Caught between supporting its allies, such as Britain and France, who were former colonial overlords, or committing to the spirit of freedom and liberty, the United States tended toward the latter. It was a connection that the Americans hoped to foster with the newly emergent countries, as our nation was quick to describe itself also as a “child of revolution.”¹⁰

It was a decade of tempests, and American exceptionalism was the lighthouse in the storm to guide the United States and willing nations to the safe harbor of liberty and democracy. A litany of threats existed. The Cuban Revolution ended in 1959 with a victory for socialism, the Congo Crisis raged from 1960 to 1965, the Angolan War of Independence ran its lengthy course from 1961 to 1974, and the Dominican Civil War spent its furies in 1965. There were also missteps along the way. The April 1961 American-sponsored attempt to overthrow the Castro regime at a place called the Bay of Pigs resulted in disastrous failure for the Kennedy administration. All these followed the communist blockade of West Berlin in 1948, hostilities on the Korean peninsula from 1950 to 1953, and Soviet use of military power to subdue Hungarian revolutionaries in 1956, incidents brought to viewers’ attention in the Big Picture episode “Army in Action—Years of Menace” (TV-645).¹¹ Through it all, an exceptionalist perspective could serve to bolster the national resolve when it wavered and guide the behaviors of its citizens and soldiers alike by contrasting the differences between the Soviets and the Americans. The narrative of “America on the Move” reminded viewers: “Pride of heritage, faith in freedom, are weapons of the mind and heart which have sustained and strengthened America’s men at arms in troubled times before. Today, these weapons are no less valuable; indeed, they are more compellingly needed than ever in man’s history.”¹² Adherence to that template would steel the hearts of Americans and set the United States as the example for nations and peoples with aspirations toward freedom and a democratic way of life. It was a necessary weapon in the war against communist hegemony, and, as the narrator concluded, “as a public service, the Big Picture brings it to your attention today.”¹³

Assessing this exceptionalist consensus as the APC scripted it into Big Picture episodes also reveals that it was not entirely static but did reflect change over time. Evidence of this appears in later episodes, which depict the evolution of women’s roles in the military. They indicate that circumstances forced the army to accept changes in the consensual tenets of assigned gender roles. This came with an emerging fear of failure to meet recruiting goals with the advent of the all-volunteer force. That drove military elites to embrace a broader definition of women’s capabilities in the hope of attracting them to satisfy shortfalls in the rank and file. In this context, The Big Picture not only reflected societal change but served as a vehicle to encourage change among its viewing audience.

The AFI&E Connection

During the Cold War The Big Picture served as a much-needed vehicle to air the messages of Americanism. As a key element in the Armed Forces Information and Education (AFI&E) Program, together with AFRS radio, information centers, command information programs, soldier newspapers, and information films, television contributed to the dissemination of messages and propaganda. As historian Thomas Palmer noted, the “Cold War shaped troop information, gave it renewed legitimacy, and provided Congressional and Executive support for indoctrination measures in the Armed Forces.”¹⁴ Conceptualized during World War I as the Morale Branch, then expanded during World War II as the Special Services Division, the idea of providing information to service members regarding the “why” of fighting and imbuing them with a sense of purpose and belief in a cause was instrumental in preparing them to fight—thus, the production of Capra’s “Why We Fight” series.¹⁵ Between the two world wars, the military information and education programs lacked rigor, sidelined by leadership who questioned their need beyond providing basic professional information to uniformed personnel. The necessity arose again during the Cold War with the Korean conflict, when elites in Washington perceived a weakening of resolve among the nation’s troops, and so the army began producing films to revitalize their fighting spirit and bolster their confidence in American ideals. From this, the army produced episodes such as “Code of Conduct” and “Defense against Enemy Propaganda.” So it was that The Big Picture, as a child of television, found its place in the arsenal of Cold War weapons.

Like each piece in the AFI&E tool kit, however, The Big Picture would serve a dual purpose. In one regard it was inward facing, necessary to educate and indoctrinate military members. In another, it was outward facing, producing propaganda for domestic and international audiences to provide a “Cold War education.”¹⁶ In this way, it shared contemporary news while selling American ideals. The army produced episodes such as “Challenge of Ideas” that informed and educated those in uniform as well as those watching at home or around the globe. In this context, The Big Picture served the information and education mission as a platform to launch propaganda that went “far beyond informing the troops.”¹⁷ As Dr. John A. Hannah, assistant secretary of defense, noted in 1953, “From the standpoint of society and the long-range welfare of the country, there is a basic obligation to inculcate the fundamental convictions of citizenship which might otherwise be lacking.”¹⁸ In short, the AFI&E program was “in the business of combatting Communism.”¹⁹

As part of a complex communications network to transmit scripted views, production of the Big Picture episodes complemented ongoing propaganda initiatives by the United States Information Agency (USIA) to present everyday life in America. Through its program Facts about the United States it hoped to offer a perspective of “‘typical citizens playing their role in daily living’ to the world.”²⁰ In parallel to this, the Big Picture films were able to provide a lens to observe life in the United States as well as the military and understand some of its key tenets, including presenting “America as a land of spiritual and religious vitality.”²¹ Most important was the hope that all these initiatives would have a positive impact on global public opinion. As Kenneth Osgood notes, if “foreigners could see ordinary Americans as individuals like themselves, working and struggling for a better life . . . they would perceive the American government likewise.”²²

Exceptional Shortfalls Glossed

As important as it was to project a unified national image, the exceptionalist narrative could not mask certain cracks in the liberty bell. As historian Elaine Tyler May notes, “The real dangers to America were internal ones: racial strife, emancipated women, class conflict, and familial disruption.”²³ Through the early postwar decades the shadow of Jim Crow darkened the lives of many marginalized Americans. While exceptionalist ideals trumpeted the virtues of equality, African Americans and other minority groups did not share in the benefits. Even after the May 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, many school systems throughout the American South remained segregated, and suburban Levittowns across the country still excluded minorities through the practice of “red-lining,” placing housing loans beyond their reach. Other fractures in the exceptionalist façade revolved around the adherence to gender roles. Women were “homeward bound,” trapped in exceptionalist expectations that kept them from reaching their potential outside the traditional home. In addition, society lacked tolerance toward any gender identification or sexual orientation outside of those that the exceptionalist ideal recognized as normative. As May notes, anticommunists turning “their wrath on homosexuals” and “gay baiting” was not an uncommon practice.²⁴ The exceptionalists drew a “direct connection between communism and sexual depravity,” as they saw it.²⁵ The consensus dictated that deviation from the prescribed norm threatened the family by opening the door for infiltration through blackmail and manipulation. The exceptionalist model did not account for this list of inconsistencies.

Despite these real life tempests, The Big Picture continued to pass the message of American exceptionalism, cleanly glossing over any democratic shortcomings by not addressing them in its episodes. For example, the APC produced no shows that specifically addressed race or diversity, and only eight that focused on women’s contributions during an eighteen-year span.²⁶ Instead, the APC continued to craft narratives for the series that would demonstrate the exceptionalist ideals and through them shape and inform the thinking of service members and the American public. This was important to solidify an exceptional core that was consistent with domestic politics and to prepare the messages for delivery to occupied and Third World nations. This was consistent with policy programs such as Militant Liberty (discussed later in this chapter). The series presented its messages in key narrative frames that addressed foundational ideals, demonstrated exceptional lifestyles, spoke of the centrality of religion, and provided exceptional historical references from America’s past.

Foundational Ideals

Serving as a primer to remind and educate the American public and service members of its exceptionalist character, the Big Picture episode “Preamble to Peace” (TV-373) was one of the first to focus on the nation’s founding principles. Produced in 1957, following a time of heightened tensions stirred by the dark energies of the McCarthy communist witch hunts, it made clear its purpose when it gently chided, “We sometimes lose sight of some of the basic facts about the origins and structure of our government.”²⁷ Reviewing the Preamble of the US Constitution, the episode reminded the audience of the benefits of life in a democratic society and the need to preserve those liberties. It also trumpeted the army as one of the important guardians of those sacred privileges. Worth noting is that among the targets of McCarthy’s anticommunist purge directed against the army at the time were several employees at the US Army Signal Corps laboratories at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, former home of the APC, as well as information officers at I&E and the AFRS. Labeled security risks, they fought for years to expunge the stain from their records.²⁸ The timing of the release of this episode suggests that the APC crafted it to deflect criticism of the army and as a reaction to the corrupted extremes of patriotism.

Expanding more widely on the concept of selling tenets of Americanism was the 1961 episode “Challenge of Ideas” (TV-512). Noted for its sharp castigation of communist philosophies, it continued the momentum set by earlier episodes and served as a tour de force of American exceptionalism through its employment of a phalanx of popular guest narrators. Once again, it drew clear lines, West against East, an exceptional America as a light against the shadows of darkness. No less a contributor was the episode, “Our Heritage” (TV-684), produced several years later, in 1966. It also revisited the nation’s founding principles by guiding viewers through an examination of the Declaration of Independence and providing a narrative that appeared scripted to educate and stir patriotic sentiments. The host of the show was Dr. Frank C. Baxter, a well-known professor from UCLA and television personality of the day. He lectured viewers about the reasons for the American Revolution and how the ideas of liberty found their way into the wording of “our crown jewel,” the Declaration.²⁹ In his presentation he reminded the audience that “out of our heritage has come human liberty, democracy, and the birth of a great nation.”³⁰ The film featured patriotic segments of marching bands and children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. It appeared on television at a time the United States stood on the cusp of deeper involvement in Southeast Asia. The timing of this episode, like the others, suggests that they appeared at moments when the American leadership may have perceived a softening in the public’s resolve to support long-term strategic policies. In that regard, The Big Picture offered a tonic to revitalize Americans’ commitment to the national policies by refreshing their understanding of underlying ideologies. No less a document than the Declaration of Independence served as an embodiment of those sacred principles and so was central to an episode such as “Our Heritage” that peddled the exceptionalist ideals.

Main Street, USA

Aside from tutorials on the fundamentals of Americanism, episodes demonstrating an exceptional lifestyle were also available among the pages of the Big Picture catalog. The APC producers of the series seemed to understand that an effective way to engage their viewers was by walking them down the streets of America, following in the paths of citizens just like them, people to whom they could relate. One example from 1956 appeared in “Pictorial Report No. 26” (TV-353). Although the episode was a compilation of contemporary news reports from around the army, one item of note was a story of how a small southern town was exercising its patriotic duty. It focused on Galax, Virginia, and described how residents there were working through the local chamber of commerce to form a US Army Reserve unit to celebrate the town’s centennial. The ranks filled rapidly with “American men proud to answer their country’s call.”³¹As the narrator described, it was a “warm-hearted story of a people determined to keep American democracy safe. For they know that freedom is everybody’s business.”³² The episode concluded with a patriotic celebration, complete with a parade down Main Street featuring marching bands, floats, and the newly uniformed Army Reserve unit. Understanding the public relations value of the situation, the CINFO invited the assistant secretary of defense to a special ceremony for the presentation of a DOD Reserve Unit Award to the town’s chamber of commerce. The CINFO also noted that the episode promoted an exceptional but positive story that “will serve as an example to other communities who have potential personnel for similar Reserve units.”³³

“Ottumwa, U.S.A.” (TV-387), produced in 1957, offered a similar patriotic perspective. The narrator introduced the episode with a gentle admonition noting that in contrast to their communist counterparts, “we as a free people, who believe in the true form of liberty, have many times been incoherent and lack the verbal ability to explain or defend completely what liberty is.”³⁴ The remedy was to take the viewer on another tour of a true American community whose members personified that understanding, as a means of demonstrating the living application of those ideals. APC producers chose Ottumwa, Iowa, nestled in the American heartland, because it was there “we have found a living example of everything we call our American way of life.”³⁵ Placing great importance on the production of this episode, the APC employed two of its best writers at the time, Reginald Wells and Harry Middleton, to construct the story. Wells was at one time a filmmaker for the March of Time series of newsreels, and later was a founding editor of Sports Illustrated magazine. Middleton was a noted journalist who later served as a speechwriter for President Johnson from 1967 to 1969. Their script followed the activities of an army recruiter as he interacted with citizens of the town during the course of his day. It was a clever device used by the writers to weave together the actions of individual townsfolk as they exercised their liberties, at home, work, play, and worship, and their responsibilities to defend those freedoms by enlisting. The last action was further illuminated by the comment that the “biggest responsibility young men face is military duty.”³⁶ By itself, that observance served as an impor tant pitch for increasing enlistments, especially at a time when army manpower levels were approaching a critical post–Korean War low.

The CINFO observed the completion of the Ottumwa production in a letter to the manager of that town’s chamber of commerce. He revealed in the message that Ottumwa was to receive a special certificate signed by the secretary of the army recognizing their behavior as “an outstanding example of good military-civilian relations.”³⁷ The plan included a presentation of the award at the world premiere of the episode, which the army planned to take place in the town. Aside from assorted dignitaries, the army band and chorus would be in attendance at the ceremony to contribute to the atmosphere. To organizers it appeared to be a successful blending that celebrated both The Big Picture and American exceptionalist ideals. In addition, the film might be useful in combatting any lingering resistance from towns not inclined to welcome new military installations. Still, “Ottumwa, USA” would be a peg on which America could hang its exceptionalist cap.

It may be no small coincidence that the producers of the sitcom M*A*S*H, which aired on the CBS television network from 1972 to 1983, chose Ottumwa as the hometown of one its central characters, Corporal “Radar” O’Reilly. Writers of the show presented the series as an irreverent critique of the Vietnam-era US military and scripted barbs of exceptionalist values. Radar, a down-to-earth farm boy from Iowa, was often the target of fast-talking doctors who mocked his simplistic belief in those prescribed American values. Although The Big Picture had disappeared from American television screens by 1971, for more than a decade afterward M*A*S*H served as the antithesis for its exceptionalist message, and Ottumwa as the convenient lightning rod for its carping bolts. This was not unlike the shadow that The Phil Silvers Show cast over earlier episodes of The Big Picture. Although its comedic repertoire focused more on military life, like M*A*S*H it also served to challenge exceptionalist messages through its irreverence and mockery.

Similar to “Ottumwa, USA,” the APC expounded the civil-military connection through episodes of The Big Picture that also featured the Boy Scouts, an organization often closely associated with traditional American ideals. The story “U.S. Army and the Boy Scouts” (TV-520) addressed the Scouts’ long relationship with the army. Scouting was, the narrator explained, “One of the few institutions to balance the rather softening effect of our modern way of life,” which might cause American youth to stray from a full appreciation of prescribed American values.³⁸ The narrator acknowledged that the Scouting program was sponsored by “schools, business clubs, churches and the like,” all those important American institutions closely associated with American traditions and ideals. He also added that from the founding of the Boy Scouts, “the United States Army has been one of its chief supporters.”³⁹ The script assured the audience that Scouting would “help our sons, cousins, and younger brothers develop the initiative, the resourcefulness, the character, the quick-thinking and the leadership they really need.”⁴⁰ The episode underscored that comment when it concluded with a summary by the narrator, John Daly, who revealed that five of seven current astronauts were Scouts. For good measure he noted that President John F. Kennedy had been a member of Troop 2, Bronxville, New York.⁴¹

The civil-military connection was growing stronger in the 1950s, particularly with the coming of war on the Korean peninsula. As historian Bruce Cumings suggests, it was that conflict and “not World War II that occasioned the enormous military base structure and the domestic military-industrial complex to service it.”⁴² By 1952 “the aircraft industry was booming again,” and “defense and aerospace accounted directly or indirectly for 55 percent of employment in the country.”⁴³ Employment was on the rise and the economy was robust. The overseas base structure was growing, so that in the ten years between 1950 and 1960 the number of military service members deployed overseas nearly doubled from just over 300,000 to 600,000.⁴⁴ This was an entirely new reality for the United States, and most Americans who had never been comfortable with the idea of a large standing military were skeptical. It did not help to allay their fears either when President Eisenhower voiced his concerns in his final news conference, remarking that the armament industry was so pervasive that it carried an “almost insidious penetration of our minds.”⁴⁵ He went on to comment that it left most Americans thinking that “the only thing the country does is produce weapons and missiles.”⁴⁶ Hollywood contributed its own perspective of these emerging fears with films such as Rally Round the Flag (1955), which offered a comedic look at Americans struggling with the fears of an emerging national militarism. In this atmosphere of concern, an organization such as the Boy Scouts provided a convenient bridge between the military and the public. The military had a long-standing association with the Scouts, and that relationship held potential for allaying fears of expanding militarism. The Big Picture provided a useful vehicle through its many films featuring a kind and nurturing military working closely with the youths in episodes such as “The U.S. Army and the Boy Scouts.” It suggests that the producers scripted these programs to depict bonds of patriotism and trust to deflect any concerns among viewers regarding perceptions of emerging militarism and to win over an anxious public, although documentary evidence was not found to show that the OCINFO had this in mind as a purpose.

Many of the Big Picture episodes throughout the series also celebrated the concept of a traditional American home, which was particularly central to the exceptional consensus. As historian Elaine Tyler May notes, “home” offered a refuge in the uncertain times of the early Cold War. As such, it “prompted Americans to create a family centered culture” that would provide security.⁴⁷ This was a security that was akin to diplomat George Kennan’s containment strategy, which in the early Cold War period described America’s geopolitical initiatives to curtail the spread of communism and to protect the exceptional American way of life. This, the United States accomplished through special military alliances, such as NATO and SEATO, and the forward stationing of military forces in Europe and Asia. All this the APC featured in a series of Big Picture episodes.⁴⁸ For Elaine Tyler May, the home became a microcosm of the Cold War global struggle with the creation of boundaries to protect the American family from “the hazards of the age.”⁴⁹ These hazards included, among a number of things, the dangers of nuclear war, deviation from traditional gender roles, and any perceived moral weakness or degeneracy, “which allegedly led to communism.”⁵⁰ It was that home, the “locale of the good life, the evidence of democratic abundance,” that was an icon of a superior West and the primary bulwark against threats to the exceptionalist consensus. Big Picture writers often worked to weave this conception of “home” into their episodes. Images frequently appeared showing parents in a tight-knit family unit living within the constructs of expected gender roles, consistent with the nation’s exceptionalist beliefs. Episodes such as “Ottumwa, USA,” “Pictorial Report No. 26,” and “The Soldier’s Christmas” (TV-745) all bore witness to this concept by showing mothers and fathers welcoming soldiers home for the holidays, serving family meals, guiding children through important decisions, and following the routines expected of their roles. The key overall was to ensure an understanding of the American way of life and to allow the average viewer to associate with their fellow Americans on the screen, and thus make a meaningful connection with their own lives within the “imagined” exceptional community. Subsequent Big Picture episodes, such as “The American Way of Life” (TV-476) and “A Day in America” (TV-776), followed similar story lines, all scripted to meet the audience on a personal level, reinforce consensual familial ideals, and remind Americans “why we fight.”

In God We Trust

Believing that religion held a central place in the life of America, President Truman called for the creation of the President’s Committee on Religion and Welfare in the Armed Forces in October 1947. Its mission was to encourage a wholesome lifestyle for uniformed personnel through participation in religious and recreational activities with local communities.⁵¹ Following that thread, the secretary of defense organized the Armed Forces Chaplains Board later in 1949 with the purpose to advise the nation’s military leadership on matters of faith and to develop “uniform religious policies.”⁵² Many members of the American clergy sought to cultivate a wider understanding that religious belief was an essential underpinning of the foundational American values and to ensure its inculcation to the armed forces’ set of values. Following this, the army began including a program of mandatory religious instruction, which received the title “Character Guidance.” New recruits attended a series of lectures led by chaplains, while other soldiers received the training on an annual basis. It centered on the “belief that people were moral beings whose sense of right and wrong stemmed from religion.”⁵³

Picking up on that energy, the Big Picture producers focused on the particular tenet of religion to emphasize the exceptional American way of life. Separated out for special focus, the APC created at least six unique episodes that featured the ways in which this characteristic appeared woven into the fabric of the American identity, including its place among army values. The first films on the subject, “The Army Chaplains” (TV-190) in 1952 and “Christmas in Korea” (TV-244), appeared when America and the West were locked in a sharp ideological battle with the communist East during the early Cold War years of the Korean conflict. As was noted then, the freedom of worship enjoyed by the democratic nations and the atheism of the communists was among the significant differences between the two sides. To help distinguish that divide, President Eisenhower introduced the phrase “In God We Trust” as the national motto in 1956.⁵⁴ The distinction was also fostered through the belief that America “was to be more than the policeman of the globe—it was the new savior of the world by Divine appointment.”⁵⁵ These episodes served to remind service members of the strong spiritual connection that reached as far back in American history as the Revolutionary War. For example, a favorite stained glass window found in many military chapels of the period featured the image of George Washington kneeling in prayer at Valley Forge.

“Religious Emphasis Day in Philadelphia” (TV-407), which aired in 1958, spoke of a unique event organized in that city when 6,000 military members were invited to worship and participate in specially scheduled activities with the citizens. Introducing the episode was the comment that “religion has always been a vitally important part of life for men in our armed forces. . . . The American serviceman and woman have long been encouraged to express their faith according to their beliefs.”⁵⁶ Although this episode touted the link between religion and the exceptional consensus, it unfortunately fell short of wider inclusiveness when the narrator commented that service members of “all faiths,” Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish, would be present to worship. There was no mention of other religions or spiritual groups on the margins of society.

These types of Big Picture episodes aired in parallel with Hollywood’s production run of “biblical sagas” such as The Robe in 1953, The Ten Commandments in 1956, and Ben-Hur in 1959. Although they ran as competition with television, it is evident that the subject matter of the films meshed well with programming on the small screen as both were appropriate for the time and added greater ammunition to the propaganda war against “Godless communism.”⁵⁷ Other offerings on television included Catholic bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s inspirational weekly, Life Is Worth Living. Conservative Christians considered him a significant contributor to understanding and appreciating the American way of life. Known for his anticommunist and antisocialist rhetoric, Sheen won awards from the conservative faith-based Freedoms Foundation and an Emmy for Outstanding Television Personality in 1952.⁵⁸ Sheen’s program was among those contemporary shows that espoused “the strategic position religion assumed in the Cold War era.”⁵⁹

Within the armed forces’ Chaplain Corps, a budding evangelical movement had arisen during the mid-1950s, driven by the anticommunist zeitgeist and supported in large part by President Eisenhower and his administration. At the time, it encouraged an American civil-military religious connection, thus opening the door for the inclusion of evangelical Christianity into service-directed character education.⁶⁰ As such, it was also not uncommon for exceptional themes to find their way into the homilies of military chaplains or to find resonance in productions such as The Big Picture. Seen by the president as another piece in the bulwark against the spread of communist dogma, the civil-religious connection resonated outside the chapel and into military life through other means of communication. It appeared in articles in all editions of the Stars and Stripes newspaper and in a plethora of regularly scheduled television shows available to military audiences through the AFN radio and television networks. The Big Picture helped illuminate this connection through episodes such as “The Chaplain and the Commander” (TV-532, 1961) that spoke of the close working relationship between chaplains and the military chain of command. It noted that legacy by claiming that “since Lexington and Concord clergy men in uniform have served American troops in peace and war, from Bunker Hill to the Brandenburg Gate,” a reference to the divided city of Berlin.⁶¹ Other connections appeared in “The Army Chaplain—Yesterday and Today” (TV-538, 1961), and “The Bridge” (TV-737, 1968). Each episode addressed the role of the chaplaincy both in the history of the military and in performance of contemporary duties to service personnel. Continuing through the 1960s, the influence of the evangelical right had insinuated itself into the lives of military members from the pulpit, in training, and through print media, radio, and television, with its message of anticommunism and American exceptionalism. As historian Lori Bogle notes, “The postwar military establishment engaged in religiously oriented indoctrination during Troop Information and Education (TI&E) programs in its continuing efforts to fulfill its constitutional and ‘God-given’ duty to provide for the common defense.”⁶²

As cameras focused on scenes of Independence Hall, the peeling of church bells and the sweeping intonations of choral strains invited viewers into the episode “Religious Emphasis Day in Philadelphia.” Even without the prompting of a script the connection was clear: spirituality and exceptionalism existed together in the foundation of American ideals. Liturgical musical scores floated in the backgrounds. Scenes captured civilians and military personnel of various faiths sitting together worshipping as the camera played over their faces, etched with solemnity and an understanding that faith and freedom were inseparable. Regardless of the setting of the place of worship—in a chapel, in a jungle, on the hood of a jeep—the camera framed the scenes in an almost Rockwell-like canvas that gripped the viewer and sought to create a bond of warm familiarity and understanding. This the producers achieved by bathing the scenes in bright natural light whenever possible. These productions loosed the full weight of the APC’s aesthetic craft to carry the exceptional message that the “belief and trust in God forms the basis for true national security.”⁶³

During the time of these productions, John C. Broger was serving as director for the AFI&E.⁶⁴ He brought with him the experience gained serving as a postwar founder of the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC), a Christian ministry broadcasting primarily in Asia. In 1954, Adm. Arthur W. Radford, then serving as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had invited Broger to act as a consultant and create an ideological framework for the military along conservative Christian lines. The result was a program titled Militant Liberty: A Program of Assessment and Evaluation of Freedom.⁶⁵ It published a comprehensive booklet that the military leadership intended to serve as guide to assist the armed forces in understanding the ideals of the American way of life and to assist in the transmission of those ideals abroad, to foreign audiences to motivate them to “be more militant in their belief of liberty.”⁶⁶ Thus, military elites were actively inviting Christian evangelicals into the information and education process to shape and inform the thinking of service members.

Militant Liberty differed from other informational programs, particularly those initiatives of the USIA, which it directed toward Third World nations. As historian Kenneth Osgood notes, the difference resided in the methodology. USIA programs worked toward “sharpening perceptions and attitudes” toward America and its ideals, while Militant Liberty worked to inspire action.⁶⁷ In the context of each approach, vehicles such as the Big Picture transmitted messages to shape perceptions and inspire action through episodes such as “Soldier in Panama” (TV-283) and “You in Japan” (TV-354) during the 1950s, and later “U.S. Army in the Andes” (TV-686) in 1963. As the narrator for “You in Japan” noted, that nation was “rededicated to democratic pursuits, and realigned in friendship with the West” through positive actions taken by the US military that included inculcation of American values and ideology.⁶⁸ This was necessary to deflect periodic eruptions of communist anti-American agitation. As eager as the military elites were to follow the guidelines of Militant Liberty, it eventually fell victim to budgetary constraints and interdepartmental bickering as the State Department saw the program as too resource-intense and aggressive.

A more direct influence on exceptionalist idealism came from a consortium of conservatives and evangelicals. The conservative Christian-based Freedoms Foundation was one of several organizations courted by President Eisenhower in the early 1950s to develop, define, and promulgate American ideals to the military and a wider public audience. Established in 1949, the Freedoms Foundation sought to reestablish the nation’s Christian heritage and believed, as the president did, that the country was battling the Soviet East for the minds of men. This came at a time of widespread conservative anticommunist backlash in the United States that included the heavy-handed tactics of Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-WI), who in 1950 claimed, “Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity.”⁶⁹

The Freedoms Foundation incorporated its ideas into an “American Credo,” which included many of the tenets of Americanism and a specific link to the centrality of religion that maintained an abiding belief in a Christian God.⁷⁰ The Freedom Foundation was among the first conservative groups to begin working closely with Broger’s AFI&E and the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS).⁷¹ Its agenda was to disseminate anticommunist and conservative political and economic views to service members as well as the American public. Captivated by this initiative, especially the spiritual aspect, Eisenhower consistently lent his support while still in uniform, then afterward as president of Columbia University, and later when he assumed the presidency of the United States. Many of the Freedoms Foundation’s ideas resonated in Eisenhower’s presidential directives and foreign policy strategies for prosecuting psychological warfare in the struggle for the minds of mankind. The Freedom Foundation, funded by conservative groups, was active in transmitting its exceptional message of the centrality of spirituality for five decades.⁷² Its charter included joining with the armed forces to develop a set of national core values that would inspire an ideological and spiritual reawakening in America.⁷³ This civil-military link suggests that military elites had little difficulty using The Big Picture as a vehicle to transmit those conservative Christian exceptionalist messages through its religious-themed narratives.

Those episodes that focused on the tenets of religion aired at a time that the United States was cultivating a special connection with those nations it was developing as part of its containment strategy. For example, narration in these Big Picture films addressed spiritual worship as a common cultural ground between the Americans and Germans, noting that in the early postwar years, “the spiritual fabric of Germany also needed a rebuilding.”⁷⁴ This was a time to build one of many important cultural and social bridges with a nation that formed a critical section of the Cold War containment barrier of communism. The United States was eager to exploit it. The visual evidence, presented in the episode “People to People” (TV-430), was black-and-white footage showing military units rebuilding churches and using cranes to lift recast bells up to newly raised steeples. It also appeared in regularly scheduled joint worship services, announced in the European editions of the Stars and Stripes, which brought together American military personnel and their families with their German neighbors in a comfortably bound community of faith. Peering into the camera during the episode the “USAREUR Story (Part II)” (TV-542), the commander, Gen. Bruce C. Clarke, emphasized the importance of religion by noting that “it too is a vital part of our lives. We like to feel we are a religious army. USAREUR has constructed 253 chapels throughout Europe for its troops. Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish services are conducted regularly.”⁷⁵

The Big Picture captured all of this, and through these episodes it reinforced the centrality of religious worship in American life. That theme continued through the course of the series, as the show’s producers never strayed far from the traditional set of exceptional tenets during the late 1960s, even during the period of the countercultural upheaval. Episodes such as “Of Soldiers and Altars” (TV-690), which aired in 1966, reflected this continuing theme. Scripted to describe the “extensive religious activities and facilities provided by [the] US Army Chaplaincy in CONUS and overseas for members the army and their dependents” the film’s narrator emphasized “the Founding Fathers’ dependency on a divine creator” and the “deep undergirding spiritual values upon which our nation is based.”⁷⁶ Maintaining that perspective, the narrative described the exceptional “protection of divine providence” that had graced America’s past as well as the “deep religious principles” that will guide its future endeavors.⁷⁷ The APCs switched to the use of 16 mm color format for this film, thereby infusing life and energy into the production. Stained glass windows in chapel scenes seemed to come to life, and the diversity of congregations became more obvious. Notable in the episode also were several scenes composed of young people, civilians and soldiers alike, discussing and condemning the tendency of others of the same age who too quickly followed popular trends and abandoned a faith-based lifestyle. In this way, the episode used the benefits of camera, sound, and settings to bring home the importance of faith to the exceptionalist consensus.

Continuing to emphasize the centrality of religion as late as 1968, the Big Picture series aired shows such as “The Soldier’s Christmas” (TV-745), which focused on the celebration of that holiday around the globe with visits to various military posts and field locations, including those in Vietnam. It featured footage of soldiers receiving packages from home, exchanging small gifts, decorating Christmas trees, and arriving home to the welcoming arms of loved ones. The blend of background seasonal chorals and music provided by the army chorus and band, together with emotionally charged colored footage, emphasized the importance of the holiday for service members and their families. The episode again underscored the understanding that religious worship was a uniquely exceptional characteristic of the uniformed services and worked to apply a human face to the army, which was under increasing scrutiny by the media, politicians, and much of the public for its presence in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately, the Big Picture catalog was again found wanting for its lack of some depth. Other than the Christian celebration of Christmas, also found in “Christmas in Korea” (TV-244), no other religious holiday drew consideration, and unfortunately this was a lost opportunity to expand and welcome greater religious inclusiveness and perhaps also cultivate greater public support.

The Past Is Prologue

Similar to those with a spiritual theme, historical episodes also played a role in transmitting the exceptional message to Big Picture audiences. Unpacking that collection makes it is possible to group those that the APC produced with a historical narrative into two categories: informational and exceptional. The former provided straightforward information regarding specific army units, individuals, or events in American military history (a discussion of this is in the next chapter), while the latter offered an exceptional perspective wrapped in a motivational historical narrative. It is the second group that this study addresses here, for its contribution in communicating the message of an exceptional consensus.

Among the first of the motivational episodes produced by the APC was “Soldiers’ Heritage” (TV-412), which aired in 1958 during the same troubling period of McCarthyite witch hunts directed at the army. Its production suggests it followed the same line as other Big Picture episodes that the APC crafted to deflect threats of communist corruption of American ideology. “Soldiers’ Heritage” provided a short, but triumphal, history of the army’s role in the nation’s wars that writers laced with exceptional and patriotic expressions. It began with a salute to the individual soldier, offering a “tribute that reaches back across the developing story of the nation itself” to the army, “which has fought to preserve the nation’s integrity and indeed its very life.”⁷⁸ Woven into this script were exceptional references to America’s “recognition of its Manifest Destiny to be strong enough to support freedom beyond its own shores” and rhetoric that asked, “What are the beliefs for which men will fight? They range from faith in a nation which strives under God to achieve its destiny” to “a capacity for honor.”⁷⁹ Producers and military elites considered these to be God-sanctioned actions that encouraged popular support of national interests at home and abroad. These productions aired as the United States was beginning to dedicate increasing amounts of its national treasure toward its involvement in Southeast Asia. Those episodes such as “Hidden War in Vietnam” (TV-562, 1962) and “The Fight for Vietnam” (TV-574, 1963) served as platforms for that exceptionalist message justifying our obligation to insert ourselves whenever, and wherever, we perceived a threat to our ideology. Cut from the same cloth were two other episodes, “American Soldier” (TV-627, 1964) and another version of “The Soldier’s Heritage” (TV-754, 1969), which told comparable stories about America’s obligation of leadership. So similar were the scripts and the footage of all three that it was apparent that APC producers pulled the material from their archives, dusted it off, and repackaged it for a subsequent presentation. These last two episodes echoed the same sentiments as the first, regarding the American soldier’s role as guardian of sacred liberties, and repeated many of the same words and phrases. In that regard, a visit to the Tomb of the Unknowns in Washington, DC, was a common point of introduction for all three films.⁸⁰ Similarly, Big Picture producers used that memorial in the closing sequence of all three versions of the episode “Prelude to Taps,” which aired in 1962, 1967, and 1971 (TV-533, 597, and 788). The differences between all the productions were little more than aesthetic, changing from black-and-white to color film as technology changed, featuring new narrators as the years passed, and restaging old scenes with new actors. This lent it a feel of immutability, a ritual that producers repeated periodically to renew faith in the core exceptionalist values that were not changing.

Still, a consideration of the changing zeitgeist between the mid-1950s and the late 1960s might recommend an examination of the reason the message in the trio of episodes remained unchanged. In the first film, “American Soldier,” the message was a reaction to perceived threats from enemies both foreign and domestic, the communists and the McCarthyites, who on one hand were plotting to undermine the democratic system and on the other to villainize the army. In the last two, the same message served as an important foil to deflect criticisms of the military and to bolster the traditional exceptional consensus at a time it was fracturing under internal societal pressures from the counterculture movement. In this context, APC producers may have seen little need to alter scripts if the same message found utility in both circumstances. However, a deeper analysis also offers a suggestion that the transmission of a too-consistent message over time revealed a fatal flaw. The inability or unwillingness of APC producers to alter the exceptional message within the later episodes, and to adopt a new approach that recognized the changing times, may have eventually rendered The Big Picture irrelevant. By 1969, when the series fell under attack in Congress for budget excesses and perceptions that it was attempting to influence foreign policy, it may have already been doomed. A Stars and Stripes article noted its demise in July 1971 with the comments that it had fallen victim to “changing times and changing tastes,” and the army needed “time to come up with something that, it feels, is more relevant to the problems of the service today.”⁸¹

A survey of the remaining Big Picture episodes reveals additional historically exceptional episodes that were intended as motivational films but that in part also drew criticism. Among these were “The Common Defense” (TV-433), and “To Keep and Bear Arms” (TV-557). As the first title might suggest, the episode, which aired in 1958, referenced that particular phrase in the US Constitution, using it to form a link between the intent of the original framers and the responsibilities of the army, together with the navy and the air force, in the past and present. It enthusiastically endorsed the military’s efforts to defend and preserve the nation’s exceptional founding principles, and again it trumpeted America’s obligation: “We can never afford to drop our guard so long as the threat of aggression continues to exist.”⁸²

The second episode, “To Keep and Bear Arms,” which aired in 1963, referenced the Bill of Rights of the Constitution and the right of the American people to keep and bear arms. Through a series of historical reenactments, it told a story of the musket and rifle in close association with the militia and the army during the nation’s development. It reminded viewers that “the rifle is part of our history” and described weapon ownership as a fundamental right and responsibility.⁸³ However, more than being a simple historical review, as were the earlier episodes, it also served as a platform for the National Rifle Association (NRA). Embedded within the footage of the show was a shorter public relations film about that organization. It spoke of its establishment and the NRA’s enduring relationship with the army, particularly with regard to joint training and competitions that it sponsored. The narrator underscored that link by commenting, “Since the NRA aids the national defense the army has always extended its fullest cooperation.”⁸⁴ The shorter film addressed its support of the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) in league with the military, and its purpose to “prepare America’s youth” by training them with weapons.⁸⁵ The scripted narrative not only provided a historical background but also encouraged viewers, military and civilian alike, to become involved in gaining and maintaining marksmanship skills. This appeared in the 1968 Congressional Record and was part of the organization’s “special public service publicity campaign.”⁸⁶ With that information becoming a matter of public record, the Big Picture series found itself drawn to the center of criticism from progressive leaders in Congress, who considered this as evidence of an external organization bearing too much influence on the military and using it as a platform to further its own needs. This became particularly evident in this episode through footage from the NRA that advocated the blocking of proposed legislation that endorsed stricter gun-control laws. It was accompanied by a charge that “fresh attempts are made each year to introduce undesirable firearms legislation,” describing how that would inhibit, among other things, the lawful recreational use of personal weapons.⁸⁷ It also drew a parallel between outlawing firearms and outlawing automobiles, noting that each depended on the responsible use of the owner, not the object. The timing of this episode also contributed to making it controversial. Just a few short years after it aired, the nation suffered the assassination of two popular and influential figures in 1968: the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert Kennedy. By its association with the rifle advocacy group the army fell under scrutiny, and the Big Picture episode, which featured the NRA, also fell out of step with the popular political mood of the country. Historical or not, through episodes such as “To Keep and Bear Arms” some political leaders, such as Thomas J. Dodd (D-CT) and Mike Mansfield (D-MT), perceived the series as selling an exceptional message that was no longer necessary or appropriate, and they introduced legislation to control gun ownership, which passed in 1968.⁸⁸

As World War II came to a close, Americans felt a surge of triumphalism that blossomed into an exceptional vision of their nation. It was an attitude that included a collection of tenets that were unique to the United States, and set it apart from the rest of the world. Working to transmit that consensus, the government employed a variety of print and visual media. Among the vehicles used was the Big Picture series. During the first decades of the Cold War, it served as a vehicle to remind members of the armed forces, and the American public, of those exceptional qualities by informing and encouraging an understanding of the nation’s foundational ideals. By the late 1960s, however, as the mood of the nation changed, the exceptionalist consensus fell under scrutiny as being inappropriate and out of touch with prevailing cultural attitudes. Regardless of changes in the cultural atmosphere, the Big Picture producers continued to script episodes that sold images of an exceptional American way of life. In the long run, the show’s producers risked the loss of some of its audience, and The Big Picture in due course became considered by some viewers to be irrelevant and eventually was discontinued.