Home Front

Home Front

Building up the Military

A. Selective Service Act• WWI was the 1st war in which the

government imposed conscription (the draft)

• Men were called to serve by lotteryB. Volunteers

Building up the MilitaryC. African Americans

1. 369th Infantry: received France’s highest medal of honor

D. Women1. Army Nursing Corps

Organizing Industry

A. War Industries Board• Encouraged companies to use mass

production to increase efficiency

Organizing Industry

B. Food & Fuel Administration

1. Most successful program during the war

a. “Food will win the war- Don’t waste it”

Slogan encouraged Americans to observe Wheatless Mondays

Organizing Industry

b. Daylight Savings- to conserve energy during war

Paying for the War

A. Victory Bonds• Allowed the U.S.

government to borrow money with these for the war

Mobilizing the Workforce

A. National War Labor Board

• Prevented strikes from disrupting the war effort

B. Women join the workforce

Mobilizing the Workforce

C. Great Migration• African Americans moved from S. to N.

looking for jobsD. Mexican Americans

• Migrated North and settled in barrios

Great Migration

Ensuring Public Support

A. Selling the War1. Committee on Public

Information Duty of “selling” the war to

the people

2. “Four-Minute Men” Gave 4 minute speeches

on war topics

Civil Liberties Curtailed

A. Sedition and Espionage Acts

• Effectively silenced criticism of war at home

• Led to the deportation of thousands of immigrants

Climate of Suspicion

A. Anti-German Sentiment

• When WWI broke out, many German traditions/culture were done away with or re-named in U.S.

Supreme Court

A. Schenck v U.S. (1919)• Freedom of Speech could be limited in

wartime