this approach joined the concep of "public opinion" aris from the work of walter lippmann (1992) with a model that attempted to identify both the factors shaping public opinion and effective action by leaders in shaping and directing public opinion. the domestic set of problems thatoriented communication studies was matched by international concerns. the propaganda efforts of the national socialist party in germany in the 1930s, and the beginning of war in europe, eventually provided a threat to the united states. it was also an opportunity for the tools of analysis of public opinion and the processes of mass communication to be applied to war fighting. christopher simpson (1994) notes this involved research on how to mobilize the public and obtain consent for the war at home in the united states and developing methods of communication to sow doubt, suspicion, and misinformation with enemy populations. psychological warfare was one more tool in the toolbox of the military strategist, and more specifically, strategists based in the united states.
simpson(1994) argues that the journal public opinion quarterly was throughout the 1950s essentially the academic organ of a network of government-or private philanthropic agencies working in cooperation with the government to circumvent prohibitions on certain types of funding-and advanced the respectability and objectivity of a field of