Harvey O'Higgins and “The Daily German Lie”

Abstract

Journalist Harvey O'Higgins, associate chairman of the Committee on Public Information during World War I, wrote and distributed “The Daily German Lie,” a series of press releases, from August to November 1918. This article provides the first scholarly examination of the content and impact of O'Higgins's column. “The Daily German Lie” provided newspapers and magazines with wartime rumors that the federal government deemed anti-American or pro-German, along with responses from military and government authorities. Attempting to kill destructive rumors and shape public opinion, the column supported key themes in the CPI's propaganda campaigns. The column demonstrated O'Higgins's skills as a propagandist as well as his pragmatic, low-key relationship with the American press in contrast with CPI Chairman George Creel's aggressive and antagonistic approach. Significantly, “The Daily German Lie” sought to silence questions about the authenticity of the so-called Bryce Report, which alleged widespread German atrocities in Belgium, and which most historians later repudiated. Thus “The Daily German Lie” helped undermine confidence in government-supplied war propaganda, and atrocity stories in particular. That proved significant when stories of real atrocities surfaced two decades later in Nazi Germany.