Each week American History tvs reel america brings you archival films that help tell the story of the 20th century. In the first of a five part look at hollywood directors who made films for the u. S. Government during world war ii, we feature frank capra who made and supervised dozens of films during the war including the why we fight series. Up next the 14 minute your job in germany. A training film for troops occupying the defeated nation. Later well show you a four minute animated private snafu training film. But first we talked to journalist and film historian mark harris. The book is titled five came back a story of hollywood and the Second World War and joining us from new york on American History tv is author mark hard rays. Thanks very much for being with us. Thanks for having me. As you put together this book and well see some of the films from these wellknown directors how much did you know before you researched the topic . Well, my training as a film writer and film historian not as a war historian, so for me what i was investigating was the gap in the resumes of these five directors. You know, i would look and see that George Stevens made no hollywood movies between 1943 and 1948 or wilder between 42 and 47. I want made me curious. Frank capra best known for mr. Smith goes to washington and also its a wonderful life. My question is why did George Marshal go to directors like frank capra and not that have military produce them . Its a really interesting counter intuitive moment. I mean marshal didnt have the military produce them because he knew and most of the War Department top brass knew that military movies had been terrible. Many of them were in use since the late 1920s and they were just really clumsly made. But theres still a question why marshal didnt turn to the makers of news reels, nonfiction films to document the entire war effort and instead looked to hollywood and creators of fiction. And i think its because marshal really understood the power of narrative film. He had seen its effect during the Great Depression when, you know, i think movies were shown often on the sides of trucks to people in the wpa. He understood movies could really rouse patriotism and fervor in people and understand hollywood directors were better at doing that than army film makers and also better than news reel makers. America forrally entering world war ii in december of 1942. What was frank capra doing friar that. Capra was the most successful and best compensated director in hollywood. He was on the cover of Time Magazine with the headline columbias gem because he was considered the director who singlehandedly surprised columbia pictures into a major force. He had won three Academy Awards for directing in 1934, 36 and 38 and then followed up those three oscars with mr. Smith goes to washington. So, he was, you know, at an extraordinary peak of achievement and reputation before the war broke out. Interestingly, as an italian immigrant the u. S. Was fighting his home country with mussolini inlines with hitlers germany. Capra, his family was sicilian and immigrated to america when capra was a very small boy. He really had no particular deep memories of living anywhere other than america but he was acutely conscious that his status as an immigrant diminished him in the eyes of Many Americans who were suspicious of foreigners, and that can sound sort of paranoid or over sensitive, but if you look at some of the stories that were written about capra even at the height of his success in places like the saturday evening post, it was not uncommon for writers to sort of compare him to an italian green grocer. Stereotypes were really in full force then and were deployed in a pretty ugly way. So for capra his war work which was really central to the war film making effort was in large part about articulating his patriotism, about asserting his identity as an american. Let me ask you about two of his bodies of work, first the seven part series titled why we fight. What was behind that . Well, why we fight was the first assignment that marshal gave capra when he was trying to indues him to come and join the effort because capra like all of these directors was old enough to have gotten an exemption from service and the importance of his civilian work would have gotten him an exemption even if his age had not. So marshals impetus in suggesting the why we fight series was to replace a series of very dry, very dull lectures that incoming g. I. S were gk given at ages ever 18, 19 or 20 what the war was about, what the history in japan and in europe had been since the early 1930s and why we were fighting. And capra was asked to make a series of movies that would explain that. Tinting thing is that the War Department never quite got around to telling capra their version of why we fight. So the answer to the question why are we fighting was really created by capra and his team of screen writers rather than articulated as an extension of War Department policy. It was a hollywood filmmaker that gave millions of g. I. S the answer to that question. As you look through these films, where did the footage come from . What were its sources . Well, this was a real necessity as the mother of invention moment. Capra was asked to make these movies but he had almost no budget. Something like 450,000 to make 50 movies. Certainly he didnt have the budget to shoot film, so he, after seeing the propaganda film triumph of the will he came up with the idea of access propaganda, the films from germany and japan that was confiscated by the Treasury Department could be incorporated into these why we fight movies, and in a way the enemys propaganda could be turned against them. And between that and his very innovative idea to have animation in the movies, you know, animated maps showing, you know, black ink spilling across europe or a crab like pincers or octopus tentacles reaching in to grab other countries those were two innovative ways to get around the fact he didnt have the money to film battle scenes. This is a 14 minute documentary titled your job in germany. Mark harris, who was the audience . The audience for your job in germany was the group of soldiers who were stationed in germany after we won. The Occupying Forces. This was essentially a training film for them to tell them how to deal with and how not to deal with the german people who had been defeated and as youll see it contains some very, very tough material and unsentimental instructions in that regard. You spent a lot of time researching this for your book five came back. What surprised you the most. Capra was complicated. Everybody sort of sees him because of the popularity of films like mr. Smith goes to washington as a great populace, man of the people. He was actually a conservative republican who boasted that he never voted for fdr in any of his four president ial elections and he thought he was being over taxed by the government and he really disliked unions. So his politics were kind of all over the place. At one point he was infatu it aed with mussolini. Doing this book made me realize war crystallized his politics in to patriotism. It was the time in his life when i think capra was actually the clearest about what he felt about america and when his patriotism really overrode any political leanings he might have. Mark harris with that background we thank you. Now directed by frank capra heres a 14 minute training film titled your job in germany. The problem now is future peace. That is your job in germany. By your conduct and attitude while inside germany you can lay the ground work of a peace that can last forever or just the opposite. You could lay the ground work for a new war to come. And just as american soldiers had to do this job 26 years ago, so other american soldiers your sons might have to do it again. Another 20 odd years from now. Germany today appears to be beaten. Hitler out. Swastikas gone. Nazi propaganda, off the air. Concentration camps, empty. Youll see ruins. Youll see flowers. Youll see some mighty pretty scenery. Dont let it fool you. You are in enemy country. Be alert. Suspicious of everyone. Take no chances. You are up against something more than tourist scenery. You are up against german history. It isnt good. This book was written chapter by chapter, not by one man, not by one furor, it was written by the german people. Chapter one, the furor, bismarck. The title blood and iron. The armies, germany. Under the prussian the german empire was mark. The german states combined serving notice to all that their religion was iron. That their god was blood. Bismarcks german empire built itself by war at the expense of denmark, austria and france. And became in 1871 the mightiest military power in all europe. Enough conquest for a while. Time out to digest it. Europe relaxes. The danger is over. Nice country, germany. Tender people the germans. And very sweet music, indeed. Chapter two, a new furor, kaiser wilhelm. Germany overall. The same tender german people smacked us with their world war i against serbia. Russia. France. Belgium. Italy. Britain. And the United States of america. It took all of us to do it. But we finally knocked that furo out. Defeated the german armies. Second chapter ended. We marched straight into germany and said why these people are okay. It was just that kaiser we had to get rid of. You know, this is really some country. When it comes to culture, they lead the whole world. We bit. We poured in our sympathy. We pulled out our armies. And they flung Chapter Three in our faces. Furo number three, slogan number three, today germany is ours. Tomorrow the whole world. And the tender repentance sorry german people carried the torch of their culture to austria, czechoslavkia, poland, france, england, norway, holland, denmark, belgium, luxembourg, russia, yugoslavia, greece and the United States of america. Over the shattered homes, over the broken bodies of millions of people that let down their guard, we almost lost this one. It took everything we had. Measure the cost in money, there isnt that much money. Measure the cost in lives. We can only guess at that figure. It took burning and scalding. Drenching. Freezing. It took legs. Fingers. Arms. And it took them by the millions. It cost hours, days and years that will never be returned. But through with it our help, our wealth, our past and our future it took every last ounce of our courage and guts. Now what happens . Oh, hell this is where we came in. Yeah. This is where we came in. And chapter four . Could be it can happen again. The next war, that is why you occupy germany. To make that next war impossible. No easy job. In battle you kept your wits about you. Dont relax that caution now. The nazi party may be gone, but nazi thinking, nazi training, and nazi trickery remain. The german lust for conquest is not dead. Its merely gone undercover. Somewhere in this germany are the ss guards, the gestapo gangsters. Out of uniform you wont know them but they will know you. Somewhere in this germany are storm troopers by the thousands. Out of sight, part of the mob, but still watching you. And hating you. Somewhere in this germany there are 2 million exnazi officials. Out of power. But still in there. And thinking. Thinking about next time. Remember that only yesterday every business, every profession was part of hitlers system. The doctors. Technicians. Clock makers. Postmen. Farmers. Housekeepers. Toy makers. Barbers. Cooks. Dock workers. Practically every german was part of the nazi network. Guard particularly against this group. These are the most dangerous. German youth. Children when the nazi party came into power. They know no other system than the one that poisoned their minds. They are soaped in it. Trained to win by cheating. Trained to pick on the weak. Theyve heard no free speech. Read no free press. They were brought up on straight propaganda, products of the worst educational crime in the entire history of the world. Practically everything you believe in they have been trained to hate and destroy. They believe they were born to be masters. That we are inferiors, designed to be their slaves. They may deny it now, but they believe it. And will try to prove it again. Dont argue with them. Dont try to change their point of view. Other allied representatives will concern themselves with that. Youre not being sent into germany as educators. You are soldiers on guard. You will observe their local laws. Respect their customs and religion. And you will respect their property rights. You will not ridicule them. You will not argue with them. You will not be friendly. You will be aloof. Watchful. And suspicious. Every german is a potential source of trouble. Therefore, there must be no fraternization with the german people. Fraternization means being friend. Dont associate with german men, women or children. You will not associate with them on familiar times either in public or in private. You will not visit in their homes. Nor will you ever take them into your confidence. However friendly, however sorry, however sick of the nazi marital they may seem, they cannot come back into the civilized fold just by sticking out their hand and saying, im sorry. Sorry. Not sorry they caused the war. They are only sorry they lost it. That is the hand that heiled adolf hitler. Thats the hand that dropped the bombs on defenseless rotterdam, brussels, belgrade. Thats the hand that destroyed the cities, villages, and homes of russia. That is the hand that held the whip over the polish, yugoslavia, french and norwegian slaves. That is the hand that took their food. That is the hand that starved them. That is the hand that murdered, massacred greek, czechs, jews. That is the hand that killed and crippled american soldiers, sailor, marines. Dont clasp that hand. Its not the kind of a hand you can clasp in friendship. But there are millions of germans. Some of those guys must be okay. Perhaps. But which ones . Just one mistake may cost you your life. Trust none of them. Some day the german people might be cured of their disease. The super race disease. The world conquest disease. But they must prove that they have been cured beyond the shadow of a doubt before they ever again are allowed to take their place among respectable nations. Until that day, we stand guard. We are determined that their plan for world conquest shall stop here and now. We are determined that they shall never again use peaceful industries for war like purposes. We are determined that our children shall never face this german terror. We are determined that the vicious german cycle of war, phoney peace, war, phoney peace, war, phoney peace shall once and for all time come to an end. That is your job in germany. The film your job in germany from 1945 director frank capra and joining us from new york is author mark harris who has been researching this topic. Put the timing of this file 1945 and audience into perspective, if you would. Well, youre german germany was a postwar film was made to be shown not to general audiences but to soldiers. They were the you in the title, your job in germany Occupying Forces in postwar germany who were trying to deal with a recently defeated german populace, and movie was largely written by dr. Seuss who at the time that frank capra recruited him for army work was a leftwing editorial cartoonist in new york. He was strongly antigerman and your job in germany is the product of a dispute that was really prevalent within the War Department as the war neared its end. Not just for germany but for japan as well. There was a question of how much should the civilian population as opposed to the military leaders or the emperor of japan or hitler in germany be blamed and concurrently how much reconciliation with ordinary germans should there be after the war. He was very much of the belief that the german people should shoulder a large portion of the blame. And capra was in agreement with that. He was very strident in the idea that there was something in the german character that made them worship these supermen these ideal leaders and that there was a great danger in trusting or befriending or reaching out to or even forgiving the rankandfile of just german citizenry. So your job in germany reflects that very, very tough tone saying to american soldiers these people arent your friends, dont trust them, dont be cruel to them and dont be abusive to them, but dont extend your hand in friendship, dont socialize with them, dont go to their houses. One quick followup because your points really came through in the film providing audience at the time some Historical Perspective on germanys role throughout europe and certainly by todays standard it wasnt politically correct. Oh, absolutely not. I mean, you know, there was real belief that there was a real belief in enemies at the end of world war ii. You know, there was a film made under capras authority about japan sort of the equivalent of your job in germany about japan, a film that evolved from a movie called know your enemy japan that was deemed so brutal and so incendiary when it arrived in japan after hiroshima and nagasaki, mcarthur refused to show the movie. While were talking about frank capra i want to ask you about private snafu. 26 cartoons we should point out not designed for children. Whats the story behind it . Right. They western designed for children and werent designed for adult civilians either. These were adult only cartoons that were meant to be shown to service men. And they were technically instructional films and in private snafu who is this kind of screw up private as youll see he looks a lot like elmer fudd because he derives from early drawings of elmer fudd. He was meant to give soldiers instructions on everything from the danger of consorting with prostitutes in Foreign Countries to how to protect yourself against malaria, to the importance of not gossiping or passing along secrets. And usually these five minute movies, many of which were also by the way written by the same author and sound like dr. Seuss material, usually the instruction was by negative example. Private snafu would do something wrong and he ended up dead or being blown to bits in about a third of them only to come back in the next installment a couple of months later. Mark, harris thanks very much. Now from the u. S. Army, titled going home as private snafu used by the army. A soldier returns from the global grind. Home is ahead. His home town is proud. Look at that brass band. Look at that crowd. Our returning hero has, no doubt, a million things to talk about. Safe at home, away from battle, restricted stuff makes harmless prattle. Our out fit is 999. We hold the center of the line. The british hold the west. Machine gun this. 200 million tanks. You got that off your chest, why not go out and blab the rest. A landing field. Boy is that sweet. It measures 15,000 feet with nine new runways all concrete. Those new jap tanks pack a punch. They knocked out bat erie b. If they start to push they will shove to us the sea. The news of the day. A new secret weapon did this to the fold. What hit you . Wouldnt you like to know . I know what indict. What made the big hole. A new flying bazooka with radar control. I know all about it. I was the light. The propelling charge is attached and the booster adapter sets off the fuse. Therefore giving it power to the spark plugs. Our very next mode, this is straight from the boss. Naturally it concerns not only about what we have but speaking of convoys you know when i sailed with the 999th a single ship from tent us, why the tanks we saw, the places we went. Now this is strictly confidential. And youll treat it so, i hope. But strictly confidentially heres the latest. Coming in at 74 degrees we placed our guns might just as well write it all over the sky. Ladies and gentlemen, the War Department regrets to announce that due to recent leaks on Restricted Military information our entire 999th division has been annihilated by the enemy. My outfit. Some guy shot his mouth off. Any guy who does that ought to be run over by a street car. Joining us from new york is author mark harris, his book is titled five came back a story of hollywood and the Second World War. As we conclude our discussion on director frank extra how did world war ii and postwar years change this director well, of all five of the directors i write bcapra was the one who expected to come back, i think, and have the best career in hollywood after the war and instead he had the worst. He came back and founded a company with two of the other directors i wrote about, William Wilder and George Stevens called liberty films. This was in a way one of the First IndependentMovie Companies that was meant to get powerful directors out from under the oppressive restrictions of movie studios and give them some autonomy over what material they chose and how it was made and budgeted. Originally the plan was for each of the three directors to make three movies but the Company Never got past the first movie which was capras film its a wonderful life. Although we now consider that movie, you know, a classic. Its a wonderful life was not a Financial Success when it came out. It was not a particularly popular movie. It was overshadowed by the best years of our lives, and it bankrupted the company. Capra was so shattered by that failure and by the loss of liberty films that his insecurities about having lost his status in hollywood and his unerring instinct for what would work for audiences overcame him. He only made about five more movies for the rest of his career, and none of them were successful. His career, as we know it, was essentially over after 1946 when its a wonderful life was released. Mark harris joining us from new york, his book five came back, a story of hollywood and the Second World War. Thanks for being with us here on cspan 3s American History tv. On the next washington journal a look at the supreme courts ruling of the contraception mandate in the federal health care law. Our guests are ed whelan and elizabeth wydra. Later Greg Whitlock from the Washington Post on the year long investigation into the safety of american drone use. Washington journal is live every morning at 7 00 eastern on cspan. You can join the conversation on facebook and twitter. With live coverage of the u. S. House on cspan and the senate on cspan 2 here on cspan 3 we complement that coverage by showing the most relevant congressional hearings and Public Affairs events and on weekends cspan 3 is the the home American History tv with programs that tell our nations history including six unique stories. The civil war 150th anniversary visiting battlefields and key events, american artifacts touring museums and historic sites. History book shelf with the best known American History writers. The presidency looking at the policies and legacies of our nations commanders and chief. Lectures in history with top College Professors delving into our past. And educational films from the 1930s through the 70s. Cspan 3 created by the cable tv industry and funded by your local cable or satellite proprovider. Watch us in hd. Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter. Each week American History tvs reel america brings you archival films that help toel story of the 20th century. In the second part we feature George Stevens who was with the invading army 70 years ago on june 6th, 1944, to document dday. Stevens assisted in production the film the true glory which includes extensive dday footage and do you wanted the horrors of nazi concentration camps creating films that was used as evidence in the neuremberg trials. First we talk to mark harris. The book is titled five came back a story of hollywood and the Second World War and one of the directors featured by author mark harris is George Stevens. Mark harris is going us judge new york. Thanks very much for being with us. In your book these five directors putting their careers on hold to thips haerm and the military during the height of world war ii, why did George Stevens get involved . Stevens had been a director of some of the most successful light come disand escapist movies in hollywood throughout the 1930s. He actually came up doing laurel and hardy silent shorts and when sound came in he did everything from swingtime one of the best fred astaire and Ginger Rogers movies to woman of the year with tracy hepburn. For stevens who like all of the directors was old enough so he could have gotten a civilian exemption from the war really wanted to what he called a seat on the 50 yard line of history. He felt that it was a patriotic duty to go. He had been chafing in hollywood, he felt he was pigeonholed because he wanted to make films with more coninformation rather or war related content and when he was wasnt able to do it at rko or columbia he jumped at the chance to do it in the army and for the army. Interestingly, of the five directors, stevens is the only one who never made a sort of Free Standing documentary during the war that was shown to civilian audiences, but his work in the war which ranged from restaging battle scenes in north africa to becoming the first