How the war made the mirror

We should remember that one war had already made the Daily Mirror given that it reached its zenith as an illustrated daily newspaper as it emerged from the First World War. However, this did not translate into continuing success as by the 1930s it was in steep decline. Re-launched in the mid-1930s, to appeal specifically to what may be described as the non-political left, the Daily Mirror was able to reinforce its editorial identity as a populist organ of considerable appeal to the working classes of Britain during the Second World War. The letters from the start of the Mirror’s campaign on 25 June 1945 to the final day of the election campaigning on 5 July will be considered as contributing to the maintenance of a carefully considered editorial approach to politics as well as an equally astute consolidation of reader identification at the heart of that editorial project. This article will explore how the emergent editorial strategy of the newspaper was enhanced by drawing popular attention to the plight of the ordinary soldier and the ordinary citizen in the midst of war. Its ground-breaking contributions to shaping both the popular memories of the years preceding the war, as well as expectations of what might emerge as a political settlement after the war, are most clearly articulated in its deployment of readers’ letters.