A key responsibility of Elmer Davis and the Office of War Information (OWI) in 1942 was to coordinate the production of government information films and oversee Hollywood movie production. To accomplish this broad task, Davis created the Bureau of Motion Pictures (BMP) branch of the OWI. White House assistant Lowell Mellett was selected to head the BMP, which had offices in Washington, D.C., New York, and Los Angeles.

Playwright Sam Spewack (1899–1971), head of the New York office, was responsible for making government informational films. The films focused on the good news related to the early war effort, such as the miraculous home front industrial production that was in high gear by late 1942. One such film, Autobiography of a Jeep, chronicled the life of an army jeep, a uniquely American war product, from production to use. Highly popular with the public, this film...