The Coming War

1. The Coming War • Web of alliances • Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy • France, Great Britain, Russia • Imperial ambitions • Nationalism • Balkans • Militarism

2. Perils of Neutrality • Wilson urges Americans to be neutral “in thought as well as action” • Whose side are we on? • Support for GB: ancestry, language, schoolbooks • Support for Germany: ancestry, Irish hope • But Wilson’s hope for an international system required a weakened Germany • Neutrality was impossible because of both sides • British blockade • Germany’s unrestricted sub warfare

3. National Security League • Bankers and industrialists promotes arms buildup and military training; holds parades • Woman’s Peace Party • Jane Addams and Carrie Chapman Catt • The war took away from progressive reforms • Sec. of War William J. Bryan resigns after the Lusitania and Wilson’s demanding an end to unrestricted sub warfare

4. $ undermines neutrality • Treasury Sec. William McAdoo warned Wilson that sales to GB were essential to our economic well-being • the neutrality principle must not “stand in the way of our national interests” – Sec. of State Lansing • Morgan’s bank lent $500 million to the British and French • By 1917 U.S. banks had lent $2.3 billion to the Allies; $27 million to Germany

5. The U.S. is kept out of the war until 1917 • The issue dominated the election of 1916, but Wilson had “kept us out of war” • “We didn’t go to war.” was the campaign theme

6. The U.S. enters the war • Facing a stalemate on the ground, Germany steps up U-boat attacks • U.S. cuts off diplomatic relations in Feb. • Zimmerman telegram emerges • Russian revolution in March, with Kerensky establishing a liberal provisional govt. (we can support that) • April 2, 1917: U.S. declares war to “keep the world safe for democracy”

7. Why? • German attacks on American shipping: violation of neutrality and freedom of the seas • U.S. economic investment in the Allied cause • American cultural links to the Allies, especially England are stronger and more entrenched

8. Mobilizing for the War • U.S. will ultimately benefit from the following: • We were in the war for only 19 months • Europe had four years • Our casualty rate was 8% • Our allies was 70% • No fighting occurred here • France, Belgium and Russia brutally scarred

9. Raising, Training, and Testing an Army • America’s military is weak at the beginning • 120,000 soldiers; 80,000 National Guard • Selective Service Act of 1917 • All men 21-30 (later 18-45) to report to local draft boards • By 1918 24 million had registered and nearly 3 million were drafted • Once in the military the army sought to education the whole soldier

10. The Commission on Training Camp Activities • Military test of recruits • IQ test endorsed by the APA • High percent of “morons” • Tests revealed recruits lacked formal training and reinforced stereotypes • WWI training camps reinforced moral-control reforms

11. Native Americans served in the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) in integrated units • More than 260,000 African Americans volunteered, with 50,000 serving in France • Racism was pervasive in the U.S. military • U.S. soldiers encouraged French soldiers to mistreat black soldiers

12. Organizing the Economy for War • War leads to unprecedented government involvement in the economy • The Council for National Defense sets up the War Industries Board (headed by Bernard Baruch) • Coordinates military purchasing • Ensures production efficiency • Provides weapons, equipment, and supplies

13. Food Administration (headed by Herbert Hoover), Fuel Administration, Railroad Administration were prime examples • Regulatory agencies relied on voluntary cooperation reinforced by official pressure and propaganda • Woman’s Land Army recruited women to replace male farm workers • To help corporate America’s perception, corporate execs ran the agencies, factory owners distributed wartime propaganda, and trade associations coordinated war production

14. U.S. Military • U.S. efforts were headed by John J. Pershing • Eventually 2 million American’s serve in France • The U.S. insisted that our soldiers serve in separate units • This was for military and political reasons • We wanted to be at the peace table when it was all said and done

15. Advertising the War • Five government bond drives (Liberty Loans) raised 2/3 of the $35.5 billion the war cost • Taxes: 16th Amendment helped; wartime taxes reached 70% • George Creel headed the Committee on Public Information • Foreign language pamphlets, Four-Minute Men

16. Wartime Intolerance and Dissent • 65,000 register as conscientious objectors • 21,000 were drafted • Eugene Debs and others claim the war is a capitalist plot • 2.4-3.6 million men fail to register • 12% of those who register did not appear when drafted or desert from training camp • Draft resistance was highest in the South

17. Suppressing Dissent by Law • Espionage Act: set stiff fines and prison sentences for a variety of loosely defined war activities • Sedition Amendment: heavy penalties for using “disloyal, profane . . “ • 1,500 pacifists, socialists, IWW leaders arrested • American Protective League and local “Councils of Defense” enforce conformity • Schenck v. United States: “clear and present danger” and yelling fire in a crowded theater

18. Boom Times in Industry and Ag. • Factory output grows by more than 1/3 • Civilian workforce expands by 1.3 million • Wage increases up to 20% • Samuel Gompers calls for workers not to strike (most abide) • Farmers profit due to relief efforts and European devastation

19. Black Migrate Northward • 500,000 African Americans move north during the war years • African-American newspapers like the Chicago Defender spreads the word about jobs, opportunities • They bring with them cultural elements- especially jazz and the church • Lays the groundwork for the Harlem Renaissance • White workers resent the competition

20. Women in Wartime • “Out of repression into opportunity is the meaning of the war to thousands of women” • House and Senate, then the states ratify the Nineteenth Amendment • War Dept. refused to grant military rank or benefits to women who joined • However, by 1920 the % of women in the workforce was lower than in 1910

21. 1918 Influenza Epidemic • Killed as many as 30 million worldwide • Total U.S. death toll was around 550,000 (6X the total of AEF battle deaths)

22. War and Progressivism • War did strengthen the moral-control aspect of progressivism (prohibition and prostitution) • Anti-alcohol was seen as anti-German and a patriotic move towards conservation of resources • Military closed brothels near bases and est. an advertising campaign • Commission on Training Camp Activities hired 60 women to lecture women to uphold standards

23. WLB encouraged businesses to introduce the 8-hr. workday, end child labor, provide worker-compensation benefits, and to open their plants to safety and sanitation inspectors • The war’s long-term effect was to weaken the progressive social-justice impulse