Rumors, gossip, disinformation, and conspiracy theories are nothing new. People have a tendency to believe the most outlandish things, particularly when they are fearful, such as during wartime. In World War II, Axis powers did their best to spread fear and disinformation among Allied countries, even those on the home front in America, far from the battlefields. But Axis propaganda was greatly supplemented by the homegrown rumors that spread among civilians. At least back then, they spread more slowly without the internet. Some rumors were about the war itself, about fictional defeats and secret missions that destroyed morale. Others were plain disinformation, such as the one that urged people to destroy their victory gardens. And many of these rumors blamed the evils of wartime on oppressed groups, exploiting existing prejudices.
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American newspapers and magazines fought back against these rumors by publishing what they called “rumor clinics,” in which they revealed rumors and fact-checked them. The federal government used a different tactic, as they believed even printing the rumors would spread them. Federal authorities instead just published the facts without repeating the rumors themselves. Information to combat disinformation, in other words. Read about the rumor clinics that attempted to set the record straight at Smithsonian.
(Image credit: U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
Source: neatorama