Pamphlets of the Committee on Public Information and the Construction of an American National Identity during World War One: An Event-Frame Analysis

In 1917, the United States was far from a cohesive entity. Using the events surrounding World War One as a natural laboratory to trace the construction of a unified American identity, this article adds to the debate on the political sociology of identity frames and nationalism. Using an event-frame - model to analyze the discourse reflected in pamphlets disseminated by the Wilson administration, I demonstrate how identity frames evolved and increasingly relied on enemy images to strengthen the in-group coherence of American citizens. Thus, paying attention to the political dynamics of frame evolution is crucial in understanding the emergence of salient identities.