Editing Why We Fight (section)

==Purpose==
[[File:transmitlies.jpeg|right|thumb|''[[Prelude to War]]'' depicts the Nazi propaganda machine.]][[File:Whywefight30vs200.png|right|thumb|''War Comes to America'' demonstrates [[North America]]'s hopeless position in the event of an Axis victory in [[Afro-Eurasia]].]]
After the Japanese [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] in December 1941 and America's subsequent joining [[World War II]], American film director [[Frank Capra]] enlisted with the armed forces. He was already an established Hollywood director responsible for directing films winning [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] such as ''[[It Happened One Night]]'' (1934) and ''[[Mr. Smith Goes to Washington]]'' (1939). He was assigned to work directly under [[George Marshall]], the [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army]]. Marshall felt that the [[Signal Corps (United States Army)|Signal Corps]], an army branch responsible for communications, was incapable of producing "sensitive and objective troop information films". One colonel explained the importance of these future films to Capra:

{{blockquote|You were the answer to the General's prayer.&nbsp;... You see, Frank, this idea about films to explain "Why" the boys are in uniform is General Marshall's own baby, and he wants the nursery right next to his Chief of Staff's office.{{Sfn | Capra | 1971 | p = 322}}}}

During his first meeting with Marshall, Capra received his mission:

{{blockquote|Now, Capra, I want to nail down with you a plan to make a series of documented, factual-information films—the first in our history—that will explain to our boys in the Army ''why'' we are fighting, and the ''principles'' for which we are fighting.&nbsp;... You have an opportunity to contribute enormously to your country and the cause of freedom. Are you aware of that, sir?{{Sfn | Capra | 1971 | p = 326}}}}

===Countering enemy propaganda films===
Shortly after his meeting with General Marshall, Capra viewed [[Leni Riefenstahl]]'s "terrifying motion picture", ''[[Triumph of the Will]]''. Capra describes the film as "the ominous prelude of Hitler's holocaust of hate. Satan couldn't have devised a more blood-chilling super-spectacle.&nbsp;... Though panoplied with all the pomp and mystical trappings of a Wagnerian opera, its message was as blunt and brutal as a lead pipe: We, the Herrenvolk, are the new invincible gods!"<ref name=Capra />{{Page needed | date = August 2014}}

According to Capra, ''Triumph of the Will'' "fired no gun, dropped no bombs. But as a psychological weapon aimed at destroying the will to resist, it was just as lethal." Capra still had no assistants or facilities, and he began to see his assignment as overwhelming:

{{blockquote|I sat alone and pondered. How could I mount a counterattack against ''Triumph of the Will''; keep alive ''our'' will to resist the master race? I was alone; no studio, no equipment, no personnel.<ref name=Capra />{{Page needed | date = August 2014}} }}

===Creating a powerful film idea===
Capra made his primary focus the creation of "one basic, powerful idea" that would spread and evolve into other related ideas. He considered one important idea that had always been in his thoughts:

{{blockquote|I thought of the Bible. There was one sentence in it that always gave me goose pimples: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."<ref name=Capra />}}

As a result, his goal became to "let the ''enemy'' prove to our soldiers the enormity of his cause—and the justness of ours." He would compile enemy speeches, films, newsreels, newspaper articles, with a list of the enemy's hostile actions. He presented his ideas to other officers who were now assigned to help him:

{{blockquote|I told them of my hunch: Use the enemy's own films to expose their enslaving ends. Let our boys hear the Nazis and the Japs shout their own claims of master-race crud—and our fighting men will ''know'' why they are in uniform.<ref name=Capra />}}

Weeks later, after major efforts and disappointments, Capra located hard-to-reach archives within government facilities, and by avoiding normal channels, he was able to gain access:

{{blockquote|Peterson and I walked away on air. We had found the great cache of enemy films—and it was ours!<ref name=Capra />}}