U.S. and World War I1914-1918
As war broke out in Europe in 1914, the U.S. declared its neutrality, thus keeping with the tradition begun by
Washington.
World War I
• MAIN Causes• Assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand• Allied Powers: Great Britain,
France and Russia• Central Powers: Germany,
Austria-Hungary and Ottoman Empire
U.S. + Neutrality
• Problems with belligerent powers trying to stop supplies from reaching enemy (shipping)
• Germany and Britain attempted to blockade each other’s ports
• America caught in the middle• German U-boats• Both nations sent out warnings• Wilson said this violated our
right to freedom of the seas
Lusitania
• British passenger liner torpedoed and sunk in May 1915
• Most passengers drowned, including 128 Americans
• Wilson warned Germany that they would be held to “strict accountability” if this continued
• Germany responded that warnings would be given to help save lives
Economic Links with Britain and France
• Although neutral we had close ties to the Allies
• War supplies shipped to other countries boosted the U.S. economy
• Trade with Germany dwindled• Bankers loaned millions of
dollars to Britain• These loans helped maintain
our prosperity and sustain the Allied war effort
• Wilson of Scotch-English descent, admired Britain
Public Opinion
• Allied propaganda helped sway U.S. public opinion towards the Allies
• Citizens of British, Italian and French ancestry favored the Allies
• German Americans strongly sympathized with their “homeland”
• Irish Americans sympathized with the Central Powers because of their hatred towards Britain
• Most favored Allies
Propaganda
The War Debate
• After the Lusitania a small number of Republicans (Theodore Roosevelt) called for U.S. entry into the war
• Most Americans wished to remain neutral
• Roosevelt recognized that we were unprepared for war
• “Preparedness”• At first Wilson was against the
call for preparedness, but in late 1915 he favored it
• Democrats were against
Opposition to the War
• Mostly from Americans in the West and Midwest
• Populists, Progressives and Socialists
• William Jennings Bryan and Jane Addams
• Woman suffragists actively campaigned against any military buildup
• However, when war began for U.S., women would loyally support the war effort
Election of 1916
• Woodrow Wilson ran for another 4 years under the slogan “He kept us out of the war”
• Charles Evans Hughes ran for the Republicans – REUNITED!
• Wilson’s peace sentiment, Progressive record and Hughes’ weakness as a candidate gave Wilson victory in a very close election
Decision for War
• Most important to the U.S. entering WWI was the change in German strategy (1917)
• Risked resuming unrestricted sub warfare before U.S. joined
• Wilson broke off diplomatic relations
• Zimmerman Telegram: from Germany to Mexico, intercepted by British.
• Russian Revolution – Overthrow of Czar – now chamption democracy
Declaration of WarMobilization
• In April, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war
• “The world must be made safe for democracy.”
• Could the U.S. mobilize in time to help the Allies?
• 1st step – supplying the Allies with rifles, gunpowder, food
• War Industries Board – Bernard Baruch– Production priorties and controls over raw materials and prices
• Food Administration – Herbert Hoover– Less meat & bread (overseas). Food shipments tripled
• Fuel Administration – Harry Garfield– Save coals, nonessential factories closed, daylight savings time
• National War Labor Board – W. H. Taft– Arbitrate disputes b/w labor and management. Labor’s wages
increased, 8 hour work day, union membership increased
Mobilization
Mobilization
• Paying for the war• Liberty bonds sold to raise
money – 4 drives• Raised $33 billion in 2 years• Taxes on luxury goods,
personal income, corporate taxes
• Committee on Public Information – George Creel
• Artists, writers, actors, to ‘sell’ the war – Am. Heroism and Germany villainy
• Films, posters, pamphlets, speakers
• “Do your bit”
Propaganda
Espionage and Sedition Acts
• Passed in 1917 and 1918 to fight against those who spoke out against the war
• Espionage Act: up to 20years in jail for those trying to incite rebellion in armed forces or obstruct the draft
• Sedition Act: prohibited anyone from making “disloyal” or “abusive” remarks about U.S. government
• 2,000 prosecuted, 1,000 jailed including Eugene V. Debs (Socialist leader)
Schenk v. United States
• Supreme Court upheld the constitutionalist of the Espionage Act
• Charles Schenk arrested and convicted of distributing pamphlets against the draft
• In 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes concluded that the right to free speech could be limited when it represented a “clear and present” danger to the public safety
• Yelling “fire” in a movie theatre when there is no fire
Armed Forces
• Thousands of young men volunteered to enlist
• Most were conscripted (drafted) ages 21-30 (45)
• Selective Service Act: 1917, 2.8 million called by lottery to serve
• African Americans: segregation in the armed forces, few officers, barred from Marines (400,000)
• Belief that serving would bring equality
Effects on American Society
• Women took vacated jobs as men went off to war and volunteered as nurses
• These contributions finally convinced Wilson and Congress to support the 19th Amendment - suffrage
• Job opportunities caused thousands of Mexican immigrants to journey to the U.S.
• African-Americans also migrated north looking for employment
Fighting the War
Barrage of artillery, machine-gun fire, poison gas
• Millions of Europeans had already died when U.S. troops arrived in late 1917
• Russia had withdrawn from the war and Germany concentrated on the western front and Atlantic
• U.S. Navy implemented convoy system to protect ships
• American Expeditionary Force (AEF) commanded by General John J. Pershing
• 49,000 die• flu epidemic kills more 63,000
Making the Peace
• Woodrow Wilson never lost sight of his vision for a “peace without victory”
• War Ends on 11/11/1918• Fourteen Points: freedom of
the seas, reduce arms, self-determination, no secret treaties, League of Nations
• Treaty of Versailles: first U.S. president to travel abroad for a diplomatic conference
• The Big Four: U.S., France, Great Britain and Italy
Treaty of Versailles
• Other leaders did not share Wilson’s views of “peace without victory”
• Treaty was harsh towards Germany: reparations, war guilt, territorial loss, and armed forces reduced
• League of Nations is created• U.S. never joins because
Congress never accepts treaty (check on president’s power)
• Could violate our neutrality and possibly the Monroe Doctrine
Senate Rejection
• Wilson personally campaigned for the treaty and U.S. joining the League of Nations
• Senate voted twice on treaty and both times rejected it
• Eventually in 1921, the U.S. signed a separate peace treaty with Germany
• U.S. never joined the League
Postwar Problems
• Demobilization, millions of men back in civilian life
• Women and African-Americans lost jobs
• Farmers suffered as prices fell• Business boom of wartime
went flat
Red Scare
• Fears grew fueled by Communist takeover in Russia
• Anti-German hysteria turned into anti-Communist hysteria
• Series of unexplained bombings led Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer to order mass arrests of anarchists, socialists and labor agitators
• Thousands arrested• Concerns rose over loss of
civil liberties
Conflicts
• Strikes led to violence• Race riots in northern cities
(Chicago) as whites resented blacks for their competition for employment
• Racial prejudice and fears of returning African-American soldiers led a an increase of violence and lynchings in the South