Peter Odegard
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Peter H. Odegard (April 5, 1901 – December 6, 1966) was an American political scientist and college administrator. A specialist in the study of
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
, he was special assistant to the
Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
at the start of the
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
War Bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are ...
campaign. From 1945 to 1948 he was president of
Reed College Reed College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1908, Reed is a residential college with a campus in the Eastmoreland, Portland, Oregon, E ...
.


Early life and education

Odegard was born in
Kalispell, Montana Kalispell (, Salish-Spokane-Kalispel language, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: Kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in Montana and the county seat of Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at ...
; his parents were Norwegian immigrants. He earned his Bachelor's degree at the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...
and his Ph.D. from
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
.


Career

Odegard taught at Columbia and then from 1929 to 1930 at
Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...
, from 1930 to 1938 at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
, in 1934 at
Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...
, and beginning in 1939 at
Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...
. In 1938, with E. Allen Helms, he published ''American Politics, A Study in Political Dynamics'', a book on the interactions between pressure groups, politicians, and the public that included several chapters on "the fine art of propaganda". Based on this work, in 1941 he took a leave of absence from Amherst at the invitation of the Secretary of the Treasury,
Henry Morgenthau Jr. Henry Morgenthau Jr. (; May 11, 1891February 6, 1967) was the United States Secretary of the Treasury during most of the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He played the major role in designing and financing the New Deal. After 1937, whil ...
, to become his special assistant advising on the projected campaign for defense bonds. He was the main strategist for the program until 1942, when he left because he viewed high-pressure bond "drives" as ultimately damaging to public support for the government and the war effort. He chose the
Minuteman Minutemen were members of the organized New England colonial militia companies trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies during the American Revolutionary War. They were known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. Min ...
as a "distinctly American" symbol of the program, suggested bonds be sold at banks and post offices, and set the initial tone of positive symbolism in order to persuade the public to contribute voluntarily. After the war he also worked for the Atomic Energy Commission, the President's Commission on Migratory Labor, and the National Commission for
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
. From 1945 to 1948, Odegard was president of Reed College. He resigned to become Chair of the Political Science Department at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
. After seven years he stepped down as Chair; he retired in 1965 and died in a hospital in
Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
the following year after a heart attack. Odegard gave a year-long series of television lectures on ''American Government: Structure and Function'' for the fourth season of
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
's ''
Continental Classroom ''Continental Classroom'' is a U.S. educational television program that was broadcast on the NBC network five days a week in the early morning from 1958 to 1963, covering physics, chemistry, mathematics, and American government. It was targeted at ...
'', which made him well known; his course was repeated for the fifth and final season. He served as president of the
American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four ...
in 1950–1951. He was also an associate editor of ''Our Times'' and of ''Public Opinion Quarterly''. The Peter H. Odegard Memorial Award in Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley was established in his honor upon his retirement. Collections of his papers are at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum (primarily 1941–1945 and concerning his work with the Treasury Department) and at the
University of California, Berkeley Libraries Twenty-seven constituent and affiliated libraries combine to make the library system of the University of California, Berkeley the sixth largest research library by number of volumes in the United States. As of 2024, Berkeley's library system h ...
(1947–1966).


Views

For the Defense Bonds, later War Bonds, program, Odegard insisted on the use of "''plus'' symbols" and the avoidance of high-pressure, shaming tactics such as had been used in the World War I bond program. He warned that demonizing the enemy, or even using factual reports of atrocities, would cause the program to be labeled propaganda and rebound against it. He warned Morgenthau: "It would be easy to stampede the country into buying ... by frenetic appeals to fear or by frantic beating of the patriotic tom toms. But if you start a campaign that way you'll hear your appeals re-echo with a hollow sound before long." He was a
Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...
and in December 1957 announced that he would seek the party's nomination in the 1958 election to fill a seat in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, but he also worked on bipartisan good government initiatives. He was opposed to the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...
; as a director of the
Pacifica Foundation Pacifica Foundation is an American nonprofit organization that owns five independently operated, Non-commercial educational, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations known for their Contemporary progressivism, progressive/liberal polit ...
, which operated three non-profit
FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting that uses frequency modulation (FM) of the radio broadcast carrier wave. Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to transmit high fidelity, high-f ...
stations in California and New York, he was subpoenaed in 1963 by the anti-Communist
Senate Internal Security Subcommittee The United States Senate's Special Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws, 1951–77, known more commonly as the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee (SISS) and sometimes the M ...
in connection with their broadcasts, and he was prominent in the protests by a group of Berkeley faculty against the anti-Communist loyalty oath. The economist F. Taylor Ostrander wrote of " xperiencingpolitical and even religious apostasy" because of Odegard's teaching at Williams College.


Books

* ''Pressure Politics: The Story of the Anti-Saloon League''. (PhD dissertation). New York: Columbia University, 1928, . Repr. New York: Octagon, 1966, . * ''The American Public Mind''. New York: Columbia University, 1930, . * (with E. Allen Helms). ''American Politics: A Study in Political Dynamics''. New York / London: Harper, 1938. Repr. New York: Arno, 1974, . 2nd ed. with Hans H. Baerwald and William C. Havard, Harper, 1969, . * ''Prologue to November, 1940''. New York: Harper, 1940. . * (with Victor G Rosenblum). ''The Power to Govern: An Examination of the Separation of Powers in the American System of Government''. Mount Vernon, New York(?), 1957. .


References


External links

* Presidential address, American Political Science Association, August 28, 1951. {{DEFAULTSORT:Odegard, Peter H 1901 births 1966 deaths American people of Norwegian descent People from Kalispell, Montana Amherst College faculty Columbia University alumni Columbia University faculty Ohio State University faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty Presidents of Reed College University of Washington alumni Williams College faculty 20th-century American academics 20th-century American political scientists