Propaganda is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as: ideas, facts, or accusations spread deliberately to advance one's own cause or to harm an opposing cause. Within the very definition of propaganda, we can see that it can build a nation or destroy it. It is used to heighten your emotions, to get you on the bandwagon, and to manipulate your own thoughts (Taylor 1). Propaganda brings citizens together for a cause, for or against. It is distributed in many forms such as newspapers, films, music and television. Often a form is used together to reach a wider audience. By analyzing some of the different forms of propaganda used throughout American history, we will be able to see how it played a vital role in building the foundation of what the United States has become today. American history, both gaining and losing public favor in wars, politics, and religion. We can trace the unofficial use of propaganda to the Boston Massacre, which led to the American Revolution (Taylor 133-134). John Adams said that a revolution took place in the thoughts of the colonists before any blood was shed, because political campaigns had prepared them for it (Cull, Culbert, and Welch 344). This was just the beginning of a long and enduring use of propaganda by the United States. In April 1917, before the Great War, President Woodrow Wilson formed the Committee on Public Information (CPI). The CPI was the first presidential committee to be formally recognized and designated to be officially used to spread propaganda. President Wilson hired journalist George Creel as director of the CPI. Creel's team consisted of other newspaper journalists, who later published over six thousand articles to gain support for President Wilson's international war efforts (Parry-Giles 3). This would also be the first time ever that, through the use of radio, propaganda would be spread quickly and widely. The film entertainment industry was also widely used to further permeate the message of support for the Great War. President Wilson and his committee of propagandists demonstrated that propaganda was a valuable tool and, in doing so, laid the foundation for future official use. During World War II the government used propaganda in both print and film (Brewer 88), to portray the Japanese as savage and primitive.