Incident
United States creates an Office of Censorship and a wartime code for the press
Twelve days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt created the Office of Censorship. Its director, Byron Price, a former Associated Press editor, wrote a Code of Wartime Practices asking newspapers and broadcasters to withhold information such as troop movements, and most of the press followed it voluntarily.1
What happened
Twelve days after Japan's December 7, 1941 bombing of the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor drew the country into the Second World War, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an order on December 19, 1941 creating the Office of Censorship. He named Byron Price, a former executive news editor of the Associated Press wire service, to run it. Price's office wrote a Code of Wartime Practices for American newspapers and, separately, for radio stations, asking editors and broadcasters not to publish or air information of possible use to an enemy, such as troop, ship and plane movements, weather conditions, casualty lists and damage to military targets. The code was voluntary rather than a legal requirement, and American publishers and broadcasters, largely supportive of the war effort, followed it without a formal enforcement mechanism. The office also opened and read international mail, cables and other communications. It was abolished once the war in the Pacific ended.231
What reason was given
Stated justificationRoosevelt said Americans hated press controls as much as they hated war but treated it as unavoidable in wartime, arguing that military information of possible use to an enemy had to be kept from publication at its source.2
What changed for reporting
Newspapers and broadcasters voluntarily withheld reporting on troop and ship movements, fortifications, weather, casualty lists and damage to military targets for the war's duration under the Office of Censorship's code.3
Timeline
1941
Who acted
| Name | Role in this incident | Office at the time |
|---|---|---|
| Byron Price | enforced | Director, United States Office of Censorship |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | announced | President of the United States |
Sources
- U.S. Office of Censorship archived copy
- Reporting America at War: Chronology, December 18-19 1941 archived copy
Claims and evidence
Each numbered claim quotes the source it rests on.
- Roosevelt created the Office of Censorship under Byron Price, a former Associated Press news editor, who wrote a Code of Wartime Practices for newspapers and radio stations.
Roosevelt creates the Office of Censorship. Under the direction of Byron Price, former executive news editor of the Associated Press, the office established a Code of Wartime Practices for newspapers and radio stations.
Reporting America at War: Chronology, December 18-19 1941 archived copy, PBS / WETA.Claim 125, checked 2026-09-22. - President Roosevelt said Americans hated censorship as much as they hated war, even as his administration created a wartime censorship office.
All Americans abhor censorship, just as they abhor war.
U.S. Office of Censorship archived copy, EBSCO Research Starters.Claim 123, checked 2026-09-22. - The Office of Censorship's Code of Wartime Practices asked the press not to report on troop, ship and plane movements, fortifications, weather conditions, casualty lists or damage to military targets.
troop, ship, and plane movements, fortifications, weather conditions, casualty lists, damage to various military targets, transportation of war materials
U.S. Office of Censorship archived copy, EBSCO Research Starters.Claim 124, checked 2026-09-22.