<P> After Guadalcanal, attention was focused on Europe, where Italy was taken, heavy bombing was hammering Germany, and the Red Army was steadily advancing west . </P> <P> Some propaganda was directed to counter people's hopes that it would not be a long, hard war . Despite air victories in Europe, Dr. Seuss depicted Hitler as a mermaid destroying Allied shipping . The U.S. War Department supported the syndication of Bill Mauldin's cartoons because Mauldin made the war appear bitter and onerous, showing that the victory would not be easy . His depiction of U.S. soldiers with disheveled appearances and sad, vacant eyes conveyed the difficulty of the war . </P> <P> Until 1944, the mayhem of war (dead and wounded) was mostly toned down by American propagandists, who followed instructions allowing them to show a few wounded soldiers in a crowd . Later, more realistic presentations were allowed, partly owing to popular demand . The earlier attitude was supported by the media; for example, NBC warned that broadcasts were not to be "unduly harrowing ." However, the American public wanted more realism on the grounds that they could handle bad news . Roosevelt finally authorized photos of dead soldiers, to keep the public from growing complacent about the toll of war . </P> <P> When The Battle of San Pietro showed dead GIs wrapped in mattress covers, some officers tried to prevent troopers in training from seeing it, for fear of morale; General Marshall overrode them, to ensure that the soldiers took their training seriously . </P>

Why were movies and comics popular during the great depression