After DuPont's war profits were revealed to be in the billions and the company's stock nearly quadrupled, the American public saw DuPont negatively as one of the “merchants of death” after World War I. This forced "Cavalcade of America" to fall in line with avoiding the use of many radio cliches of the day, including gunfire and depicting blacks on the radio. The writers of Cavalcade of America supported this move by DuPont, as the staff was made up of mainly young academics that were either pacifists or signed an anti-war pledge in college. With new writers and a world-class PR firm, DuPont was able to shake the “merchant of death” label and remained a sponsor for a top radio program.