World War I and the United States

1914-1920

Timeframe of WWI

• Europe: 1914-1918

• US: 1917-1918

• War ends on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.– 11/11/1918 – Veterans’ Day is November 11th now celebrated

in honor of those who fought in all wars.

The Two sides

Triple Entente

Became Allied Powers• England• France• Russia: left war 1917

because of revolution• Japan joined later

Triple Alliance

Became Central Powers• Germany• Austria-Hungary• Italy: switched sides

1915• Ottoman Empire and

Bulgaria joined later

Isolationism: Policy from 1914-17• The US believed they could stay neutral – couldn’t

clearly see the war as democracy v. autocracy • Cultural ties to both sides

– Ties to British culture– Irish-Americans– German-Americans– Russia sided with Britain but seen as an autocracy

• Feminists, pacifists and social reformers said the country needed to deal with other issues.

Both sides made it difficult for the US to remain neutral

• 8/1914 British blockaded Central Powers– As result cut American trade with Germany– US couldn’t complain too much trade with allies up

from $824m in 1914 to $3.2b 1916, also lent allies $2.5b

– In comparison trade and loans with Germany $29m and $27m

• Germans used U-boat (submarines) to challenge British control of the seas

The Lusitania and America’s response?

• Passenger ship torpedoed May 7, 1915 – 1198 died (128 Americans)

– Was a passenger ship but had been carrying munitions

• American newspapers called it mass murder• Wilson protested to German gov’t

– US-German tensions reduced when German gov’t said they would no longer attack non-combatants

• Not enough to cause war for US (US doesn’t enter for two years), but does turn public opinion against Germany and Wilson starts preparation for possible war

Wilson’s attitude toward war was changing in 1915

• $1b buildup of military

• ran for re-election in 1916 with slogan: “He kept us out of war.”– Wilson had long opposed women’s suffrage– Irony was that he won a very close race with

the support of 10 of the 12 states that had adopted women’s suffrage

• They liked his isolationist stance

Changes led to a decision to go to war• Jan. 1917 Germany announced resumption of

submarine warfare (against ships sailing to Britain)– Several American merchant ships sunk

• Feb. 1917 Zimmermann telegram– Germany urged Mexico to go to war against the US and

recover lands lost in mid-1800s

• Feb. 1917 revolution in Russia – maybe a democracy• 4/2/1917 Wilson went to Congress to ask for a

declaration of war• No desire to conquest or make gains• Socialists and IWW against the war

– gained more votes – 20% in mayoral elections

• Jan 1918 Wilson issued 14 Points

New Technologies and Strategies that were used in WWI• Machine gun• Long range high velocity rifles• Poison gas• Trench Warfare – stagnant front

– 25,000 miles heavily fortified trenches with no man’s land in between

– Stalemate in many battles– High casualties

End of Introduction

What contribution did the allies want from the US and how was this accomplished?

• Men• Draft

– Little resistance– About 300,000 evaded the war– 4,000 conscientious objectors

• By end of the war 4m men in armed forces– 48,000 killed in action or from wounds– 27,000 died from other causes

• War claimed 8m lives

Major military accomplishments of US forces?

• Secured shipping lanes in the Atlantic

• Helped French against Germans at battles of Château-Thierry and Belleau Wood

• Pushed Germans back from the Marne River

• Won the Meuse-Argonne campaign near Verdun which broke the German defenses– Kaiser abdicated 2 days later on Nov 11

• Nov 11, 1918: Armistice Day

Paying for the War

• Federal Reserve System enabled gov’t to expand money supply

• 2/3 from loans – Liberty Bonds

• Increased income taxes

• Excess profits tax – Gov’t also worked with businesses – suspended

anti-trust laws in favor or cooperation

Mobilization of Industry

• July 1917 War Industries Board created led by Bernard Baruch – used personal contact to avoid forcing business and people to comply– Allocated scarce resources– controlled flow of raw materials– Ordered conversion from peacetime to

wartime production– Set prices– Coordinated purchasing

Food Administration• Created August 1917 led by Herbert Hoover

• Slogan “food will win the war”

• Convinced population for the need for self-denial and self-sacrifice– Farm acre expanded from 45m to 74m acreas– Rationing unnecessary people complied voluntarily with:

• “wheatless” Mondays• “meatless” Tuesdays• “porkless” Thursdays and Saturdays

Transportation and Temporary Nationalization

• Gov’t took over control of Railroads in Dec 1917 to ensure easy movement of troops.

• Fulfilled their promise to return RR to their owners after war

Need for Labor• Established National War Labor Board April 1918

– Representatives of labor, management and the general public

• Helped labor in the long run by reforms during war– 8 hour workday for war workers– Time and a half for overtime– Equal pay for women

• Strikes not allowed in war industries but used arbitration to solve disputes

New faces in the Workforce

• Mexicans crossed the borders for industrial jobs in southwestern cities (100,000)

• Women joined workforce in record numbers (one million)– Most people believed this would be a

temporary change

Progressive Reform during WWI• Temperance movement

– Urban areas and areas with high immigrant populations opposed prohibition

– Many southern states already had prohibition laws– 18th amendment ratified 1919

• Women’s groups supported Wilson and the war hopes of winning the right to vote– January 1918 Wilson withdrew his opposition to female

suffrage amendment• Took until Aug 1920 to have the amendment ratified• 72 years after goal of women’s suffrage declared at Seneca

Falls in 1948

Progressive Reform during WWI• Temperance movement

– Urban areas and areas with high immigrant populations opposed prohibition

– Many southern states already had prohibition laws– 18th amendment ratified 1919

• Birth Control– to protect soldiers from VD gave out birth control info

and devices– Reversal of the treatment of Margaret Sanger and

Emma Goldman

Women’s Suffrage• America’s entry into the war threatened to tear apart the

suffrage movement– Jeannette Rankin opposed war first woman member of congress– women in general supported the war

• The National Woman’s Party was militantly fighting for suffrage– Alice Paul compared Wilson to the Kaiser denying democracy,

chained herself to white house fence, force fed in prison

• The combined efforts of women during the war won them suffrage –Wilson finally gave in– January 1918 Wilson withdrew his opposition to female suffrage

amendment• Took until Aug 1920 to have the amendment ratified• 72 years after goal of women’s suffrage declared at Seneca Falls in 1948

Propaganda During WWI• The Wilson administration decided that patriotism

was too important to leave to the private sector• The Committee on Public Information (CPI) was

created 1917 shape public opinion in later international conflicts prowar propaganda– posters, pamphlets, newspaper ads, movies– Four-Minute Men standardized talks in different

languages– The CPI couched its appeal in the Progressive language

of social cooperation and expanded democracy– Freedom took on new significance enlist, buy liberty

bonds

Patriotism v. Freedom• Committee on Public Information encouraged ethnic

groups to give up old world customs– Especially aimed at German immigrants

• Espionage Act 1917 & Sedition Act 1918– Penalties for anti-war activities– Gov’t could ban treasonous material

• Individuals arrested– Eugene Debs 10 yrs jail saying that the master classes

declared war while the subject classes fought battles• Pardoned 1921

– Schenck v. US; Supreme Ct upheld that Schenk guilty of sending pamphlets urging draft resistance

Patriotism v. Freedom cont. • The American Protective League (APL) helped the

Justice department identify radicals and critics of the war spied on neightbors and conducted slacker raids – checking on draft cards

• IWW –crushed by employers and gov’t– IWW leader Frank Little lynched in Butte Montana– broadest warrant in U.S. history fed agents went to IWW

offices and

• arrested hundreds of leaders and seized files and publications– Bisbee, Arizona copper miners rounded up strikers and

sympathizers took them to desert and left them there

Immigrants and WWI • The war led to further growth of the Southwest’s Mexican

population – legally classified as white – thought they would assimilate– public officials in SW kept them segregated

• On the eve of American entry into World War I, Congress terminated the status “citizen of Puerto Rico” and conferred American citizenship on residents of the island– subject to draft but couldn’t vote in Am elections

• Even more restrictive were policies toward Asian-Americans– 1906 all Asian students in one school– Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907 – end immigration to US except

for wives and children– 1913 CA banned aliens incapable of becoming citizens (Asians)

from owning land

African Americans and WWI • Black leaders saw the war as an opportunity for advancement• World War I did not bring significant gains

– navy barred blacks, army segregated units – supply units• The Great Migration

– The war opened thousands of industrial jobs to black laborer– 500,000 migrated north– increased presence and demands for change Dozens of blacks

were killed during a 1917 riot in East St. Louis, Missouri• Also riots and lynching up in the South• Marcus Garvey launched a separatist movement – African indep and

black self-reliance – Violence led to a silent march of protest on NY 5th Ave – “Mr.

President, Why Not Make America Safe for Democracy?”– deported for mail fraud

Wilson’s 14 Points v. Treaty of VersaillesWilson

• Permanent league of nations (#1 goal)

• Open diplomacy

• Free navigation of seas

• Self-determination for nations– Succeeded in creation of Austria,

Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia

• Embraced ideals of democracy and freedom

• End imperialism only Germany

Versailles• Established League of

Nations• Germany and Russia not

invited to peace conference• Allies goal: punish

Germany• Demanded reparations

from Germany

Wilson v. Senate• Wilson asked country to support his treaty in the

congressional elections – failed• Senate against the League of Nations

– Didn’t like premise of permanent US participation in European Affairs

• Desire to return to isolationism• Against the call for collective security if a member nation was

attacked– Undermine Congress’s authority to declare war– Wanted US to pursue a unilateral foreign policy

• Wilson speaking tour to gain support but had a stroke

• Treaty never ratified by US

Aftermath of WWI - Labor• Workers thought they would retain gains after the war;• The strike wave began in January 1919 in Seattle – united AFL and

IWW for 5 days commission of laborers ran the city until federal troops called in and strike ended– 1919 4m workers went on strike – demanding freedom in the workplace

• portrayed management as Kaiser

– Boston police strike – MA governor Calvin Coolidge (pres 1924) called out national guard – can’t strike against public safety

• Great Steel Strike: after war tried to get rid of the union and reverse wartime gains– striked for union recognition, higher wages, and an eight-hour day– immigrant workers questioned why they had supported the war– Steel magnates launched a concerted counterattack

• associated the strikers with the IWW• became immigrant workers v. American workers• middle class turned against the unions• strike collapsed 1920

Aftermath of WWI – Red Scare• Fear because of Russian Rev. and strikes• Attorney General Palmer in November 1919 and January

1920 dispatched federal agents to raid the offices of radical and labor organizations throughout the country– J. Edgar Hoover – oversaw the Palmer Raids– 5000 arrested many w/o warrants, held for months w/o charges– hundreds of immigrant radicals deported Emma Goldman– compiled files of thousands of suspected radicals– Palmer criticized by Congress and the press

• Secretary of Labor Louis Post began releasing imprisoned immigrants and the Red Scare collapsed

• bomb outside of NY Stock Exchange didn’t rekindle the red scare » 40 died biggest U.S. terrorist explosion before Oklahoma City 1995

• in the long run Palmer raids led to protection of civil liberties, but in the short run it hurt radical and labor groups

» IWW and Socialist Party destroyed