AMERICA AND THEGREAT WAR

CAUSES Underlying causes

Entangling system ofalliances

Militarism Extreme nationalism Imperialism

Immediate cause Assassination of the

Archduke FranzFerdinand

WILSON’S NEUTRALITY In 1914 Wilson asked

Americans to remainneutral “in thought aswell as in action.”

Truthfully, neitherWilson nor most otherAmericans wereimpartial.

Emotional ties to theAllies and economicrealities madeneutrality virtuallyimpossible.

PERILS OF NEUTRALITY Continued American prosperity depended on

trade with the Allies. Investments gave theU.S. a stake in Allied victory. Likewise theU.S. served as an arsenal for the Allies.

The British violated American trading rightsby mining the North Sea and blockadingGerman ports.

Wilson’s protests failed to prevent theBritish from cutting off American trade withGermany.

Germany retaliated with unrestrictedsubmarine warfare.

TERROR AT SEA Unlike British violations of

American neutrality, Germanuse of unrestricted submarinewarfare claimed American livesand was widely consideredbarbaric.

Sinking of Alliedships—Lusitania, Arabic,Sussex, etc.

Wilson demanded thatGermany cease use ofunlimited submarine warfareand threatened to break offdiplomatic relations with thatnation if it did not cease.

LUSITANIA

PREPAREDNESS VERSUSPACIFISM

Pacifists and interventionistsbutted heads.

By 1915 Wilson favoredpreparedness.

Some Americans chargedWilson with abandoning the“true spirit of neutrality.”

War degenerated into a bloodystalemate.

British propaganda in the U.S.convinced many Americansthat the Germans werecommitting atrocities.

A NATION DIVIDED Widespread pacifism, isolationism, antimilitarism, and apathy Racial system characterized by race riots, frequent lynchings, and

segregation Middle-class citizens wary of both radical labor organizations and

the power of large corporations as a result of years of businessconsolidation and industrial violence

Millions of U.S. citizens were connected through ancestry to theEuropean nations that were currently at war

Women were also divided, with many suffragettes and othersprominent in the peace movement

Many willing, if not eager, to fight against Central Powers Intellectuals and religious organizations strongly opposed

intervention Wilson won reelection in 1916, using the slogan, “He kept out of

war.”

CAUSES OF U.S. ENTRY Wilson decided that the U.S. needed to enter the war in order to

shape the postwar settlement. Ultimately his handling of theissue of neutral rights on the high seas pulled the nation into awar with Germany. Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare (Jan. 31,

1917). Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany (Feb. 3,

1917). British intelligence informed Washington of the Zimmermann

telegram. Main causes:

Bankers and munitions makers Unrestricted submarine warfare Zimmermann telegram Wilson’s so-called “messianic complex” British propaganda and American cultural ties to the Allies

A WAR FOR DEMOCRACY In order to justify American

intervention and to satisfyhis own sense of morality,Wilson sought to make theworld “safe for democracy”and to achieve “peacewithout victory.” Thepresident fervently pursuedthe creation of a new worldorder characterized by“political liberty” and freetrade. He naively believedthat the First World Warcould be a “war to end allwars.”

HOME FRONT Although the U.S. helped to bring about a

decisive victory for the Allies, PresidentWilson had to overcome reluctance anddeep divisions at home. Hisadministration managed to accomplishthis through an appeal to patriotism aswell as the baser instincts and was notabove curtailing civil liberties in order toobtain his aims.

To develop the support needed tomobilize America for total war, the U.S.government employed various methods.

CPI AND THE CAMPAIGNFOR SOCIAL UNITY

Headed by journalist and social reformer George Creel, the Committee ofPublic information sought to meld all Americans into what its directorcalled “one white-hot mass… with fraternity, devotion, and deathlessdetermination” to support an Allied victory.

Methods: Massive propaganda campaign Formation of front organizations such as the American Alliance for

Labor and Democracy to discourage pacifism and radicalism amongworkers

American Protective League: group of 250,00 volunteers supportedby the government to root out opponents of the war

Themes: Enemy subhuman monsters who committed unspeakable atrocities

and were preparing to invade the U.S. America engaged in holy crusade to avenge these atrocities,

safeguard democracy, and bring about lasting peace All Americans should unite to win this crusade

ENGINES OFINDIRECTION

The governmentencouragedAmericans to paythe costs of war,conserve scarceresources, andparticipate inhome-frontactivities.

MOBILIZING THEECONOMY FOR WAR

Unprecedented regulation of business Creation of special wartime agencies

WIB: allocated scarce resources,established production priorities,and introduced more efficientbusiness practices

Food Administration: encouragedfarmers to increase production andexhorted civilians to conserve food

U.S. Railroad Administration:consolidated all privately owned raillines into one, unified, government-operated system

National War Labor Board: servedas final mediator between labor andmanagement

Government activism eroded laissez-faire

MILITARY STRUGGLE:TURNING THE TIDE Under the Selective

Service Act nearly 3million men weredrafted. Over 11,000women volunteeredfor the navy, servingas noncombatants.

The AEF repelledGerman assaultsalong the WesternFront and helped totip the scales in thefavor of the Allies.

FINANCING THE WAR Secretary of the

Treasury William G.McAdoo employedpioneering advertisingtechniques andpropaganda to sellwar bonds, whichfinanced about two-thirds of the warcosts.

$32 billion to financethe war—LibertyBonds $23 billion andnew taxes $10 billion

WOMEN Many women’s rights activists hoped the war would

lead to equality for women. Thousands served in the military and volunteer

organizations. About 1 million pursued working opportunities in

industry. Women gained experience that would help cultivate a

greater sense independence and challenge traditionalnotions of about women’s proper place.

Suffragists argued that women earned the right to fullcitizenship through their patriotic service on the homefront. Further, activists contended that Americashould be made safe for democracy by grantingwomen equality.

A SHIFT TOWARDACTIVISM

Since 1890 the NAWSA had secured voting rights forwomen in 13 states. Despite limited gains, most otherefforts met with frustration and failure.

1913 marked a shift from the state-by-state strategyto an effort to amend the federal Constitution.

Alice Paul, chair of the NAWSA’s CongressionalCommittee, brought militance and activism to thesuffragist movement. She organized the March 3,1913 march on Washington that won publicity andsympathy for the movement.

Under the leadership of Carrie Chapman Catt, theNAWSA encouraged its 2 million members to supportthe war effort and the Wilson administration, whilesustaining its campaign for suffrage.

MILITANCE By 1916 a schism emerged in the suffragist movement

as Alice Paul’s NWP split from the NAWSA. Paul sought to defeat Wilson and the Democrats in

upcoming elections despite their views on women’ssuffrage. The NWP aimed at the party in power as theenemy of democracy.

Led by Paul, activists picketed the White House andcarried out hunger strikes. Arrested, imprisoned, andsubject to force feeding, these suffragists made front-page news.

Both the efforts of NAWSA women demonstrating theirworthiness as citizens and the militant demands of theNWP women helped to win support for the suffrageamendment.

ALICE PAUL Paul compared Wilson to Kaiser

Wilhelm, burned the president’sspeeches, and chained herself tothe White House fence, resulting ina 7-month prison sentence. Sheand her small band were attackedby passersby, jailed and beaten forgoing on daily sentry duty outsidethe White House exposing thehypocrisy of President Wilson’sfight for worldwide democracywhen he refused to extend it toAmerican women. Paul went on ahunger strike in prison untilreleased.

In 1920 the ratification of the 19th

Amendment made the U.S. the 27th

country to allow women’s suffrage.

JEANETTE RANKIN Rankin was the first and only woman

elected to Congress in 1916, as aRepublican from Montana. Sheconvinced the House to pass theNineteenth Amendment for femalesuffrage—by one vote. She was adedicated pacificist, one of the 50members of the House who votedagainst President Wilson’s proposeddeclaration of war. Rankinarticulated her position when shesaid, “I want to stand by my country,but I cannot vote for war.” Later shewas the only vote against U.S. entryinto World War II, and in 1968, atthe age of 87, she led 5,000 womenin protest against the war inVietnam.

PROGRESSIVISM ANDWAR WELFARE STATE

Overall, the war stifled reformenergies and ushered in a decadeof reaction.

The war strengthened theprohibition movement.

Families won economic benefits,such as “mother’s pensions” andaid to widows and orphans.

The war boosted the moral puritymovement through agovernment-sponsored programto close brothels near armycamps and provide troops withhealthy and clean forms of sportand entertainment.

Brief flurry of protective laborlaws

AFRICAN AMERICANS African American participation in the war accentuated bitterness

and increased determination to fight for their rights to fullcitizenship and equality.

W.E.B. Du Bois encouraged blacks to support the war on theground that fighting for democracy abroad would advance racialequality at home.

“Great Migration” of 500,000 blacks to northern cities in search ofjob opportunities and to escape southern racism and segregation;competition with whites set off an explosion of savage andmurderous race riots

NAACP urged government protection and for blacks to defendthemselves

Marcus Garvey, leader of black nationalism following the war, andhis UNIA rejected assimilation into white society, promotedcapitalism, and established the “back-to-Africa” movement.

GARVEY AND BLACKNATIONALISM

Garvey founded the United Negro ImprovementAssociation in 1917. By the mid-1920s it hadmore than 700 branches in 38 states. Theorganization ultimately collapsed under myriadcharges of fraud and other financial misdeeds.

Historian Elwood D. Watson argues that “helarger significance of Garveyism” was its abilityto “tap successfully the ambitions and emotionsof people whose lives were held down by class,economics, and racism.”

Garvey was a zealot who advocated economicself-determination and African redemption.Garveyism proclaimed the revitalization ofpeople of color around the world and exaltedthe power of the black race.

The UNIA represented economic independenceand self-sufficiency without subscribing tocapitalism or socialism. Garvey gainedmeteoric popularity and prominence because ofhis ability to understand the needs and desiresof blacks.

TERROR ANDINTOLERANCE

While the majority of Americans supported the war effort withnational pride and fervor, a large number of people experienceda time of terror. The government and millions of citizensenforced political conformity and cultural unity in the name ofdemocracy. People spied on one another; intimidated those who seemed

slow to purchase government war bonds or to join the military;forced pro-Germans to kiss the American flag or painted themyellow; threatened, tortured, and, in two cases murderedthose who seemed to oppose the war; and attacked thecountry’s German subculture

The Creel committee and its propaganda stoked a blaze of anti-German hysteria and hatred of opponents of the war effort. Asfear and intolerance mounting, antiwar radicals and German-Americans fell victim to verbal and physical attacks.

In its efforts to suppress dissent, the government supportedstate and private groups that cracked down on pacifists, radicals,and people too friendly with the enemy.

CRUSHING DISSENT The government sponsored

250,000 members of the AmericanProtective League, who sought toroot out opponents of the war.

Vigilante mobs preyed upon Irish,German, and Jewish Americans.

Many socialists considered the wara crusade to enrich the wealthycapitalists at the expense of thetoiling masses. The governmenttargeted anti-capitalist groupssuch as the Socialist party and theIWW.

“CLEAR AND PRESENTDANGER”

The Espionage Act empowered thegovernment with the ability tocombat spying and any obstructionof the war effort. Meanwhile, theSabotage and Sedition acts madeillegal any expression of oppositionto the war and enabled officials toprosecute anyone who criticizedthe president, war, Constitution, orgovernment. Some 1,500 wereconvicted and jailed.

In its decision in Schenck v. UnitedStates (1919), the Supreme Courtupheld the constitutionality of thelaws with the “clear and presentdanger” doctrine.

DEBS Eugene V. Debs, leader of the

Socialist Party of America andpacifist, vehemently opposed U.S.involvement in World War I.Debs received a ten-year prisonterm for violating the Sedition Actof 1918. In 1920, while in jail,he polled nearly one million votesas the Socialist presidentialcandidate. He was pardoned andreleased from prison by PresidentHarding in 1921, but his rights asa U.S. citizen were not restored.

The war-generated intoleranceand hysteria climaxed in 1919-1920.

RACISM AND RED SCARE Lynch mobs killed 76 blacks, and race

riots erupted in over 25 cities. A waveof postwar strikes and a series ofbombings convinced many Americansthat the nation was on the verge of acommunist revolution.

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmerorchestrated a series of raids onalleged radical centers nationwide andarrested more than 4,000 suspectsdespite the fact that there was noevidence showing that they hadcommitted any crime.

Postwar hysteria, economic problems,labor unrest, racial tensions, and anti-radicalism intensified intolerance,nativism, and xenophobia.

WILSON: PROGRESSIVEINTERNATIONALIST Wilson believed European imperialistic rivalries and arms races as the

main causes of the Great War. His efforts to protect American neutralityagainst both British and German violations of American rights on the highseas failed. Wilson’s efforts to end the war through mediation failed aswell. When Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in April1917, he asked Congress for a declaration of war. Wilson thensuccessfully mobilized the nation for total war, desiring a new world orderthat was “safe for democracy.”

Wilson presented his fourteen-point peace plan in a speech to Congress inJanuary 1918. The proposals included the abolition of secret alliances,freedom of the seas, reduced armaments, self-determination for allcountries and peoples, and the establishment of a “general association ofnations” to promote world peace.

The Fourteen Points were widely accepted and formed the basis of thearmistice, but by the time of the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, many ofWilson’s points had to be compromised because of resistance by theleaders of France, Britain, and Italy. The fourteenth point, regarding theLeague of Nations, became part of the Treaty of Versailles, which wasnever ratified by the U.S. Senate. Wilson’s plan did pose some problemsbecause it did not adequately address the economic causes of the war andpresented no practical formula for securing self-determination.

WILSON’S BIGDISAPPOINTMENT

In 1913 Wilson remarked, “It would be an irony of fate if myadministration had to deal chiefly with foreign affairs.” Wilson’sfirst term was dominated by domestic affairs, whereas his secondterm dealt heavily with foreign affairs. By 1917 he viewedhimself as a savior of the world. Wilson desperately wanted auniversal peace rooted in American moral values, not anequilibrium based on balance of power politics.

On his way to the Paris Peace Conference, Wilson expressed hisanxieties to Creel: “People will endure their tyrants for years, butthey tear their deliverers to pieces if a millennium is not createdimmediately. Yet these ancient wrongs, these presentunhappinesses, are not to be remedied in a day or with a wave ofthe hand. What I seem to see—I hope I am wrong—is a tragedyof disappointment.” Wilson’s fears materialized as he facedresolute leaders of vindictive nations that had suffered greatly.David Lloyd George and Georges Clemenceau pursued theirrespective national interests and never put their faith in theFourteen Points or Wilson’s liberal vision.

TREATY OF VERSAILLES:A FLAWED PEACE

Wilson realized he had to compromise in order to save his mostimportant point—the League of Nations.

Liberals criticized Wilson for betraying his ideals or forcompromising too much. In reality Wilson achieved more of hisFourteen Points than he lost. Notably, he helped to secure thecreation of Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia as well asindependence for Finland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania. Further,Wilson helped to rebuild Europe and save it famine andrevolutionary chaos. He also won the establishment of themandate system for dealing with the former colonies of Germanyand Turkey. Most importantly, Wilson achieved the Covenant ofthe League of Nations. The treaty, no doubt, was far more liberalthan it would have been if Wilson had stayed home.

Wilson only partially succeeded at securing freedom of the seas,free trade, open covenants, and self-determination.

The Versailles Treaty was a very harsh and vindictive peace thatplanted the seeds of bitterness, resentment, and the desire forrevenge in Germany.

COLLAPSE OF WILSON’SLEADERSHIP

The collapse of Wilson’s political influence in dealing with thepeacemaking at the end of the war, consisted of many factors, most ofthem beyond his control. He steadily lost the political savvy that madehis first term so successful. Protracted negotiation wore away at his frailhealthy and limited energy reserves. The Fourteen Points, Wilson’s plan for making the world safe for democracy

and ending all wars was beyond the capacity of any political leader to achieve,then and now.

Once the fighting concluded, he was forced to compromise more than hewanted.

Events were moving too quickly for the implementation of his full peace plan. After six years of Democratic rule and a growing conviction in Republican

party circles that the Democrats would be vulnerable in 1920, SenateRepublicans made approval of the Versailles Treaty and American participationin the League partisan issues that could strengthen their influence.

Between 1918 and 1920, Wilson’s deteriorating health, particularly a majorstroke in the fall of 1919, intensified his propensity for self-righteousness andmade him uncharacteristically rigid in dealing with a political issue thatdemanded flexibility and accommodation.

Wilson’s physical incapacity assured the defeat of American participationin a world league for 25 years.

RESERVATIONISTS Supported America playing an active

role in the new world order, butbelieved the U.S. should avoidforeign entanglements

Opposed Article X Feared U.S. involvement in war

without Congressional declaration ofwar

Worried about possible Leagueinterference with tariff andimmigration policies

Feared possible domination of theLeague by British Empire

Criticized the failure of the treaty toaddress sufficiently the troublesomeissue of extreme nationalism

IRRECONCILABLES Favored isolationism and

conservatism Feared foreign entanglements

and possible foreign control overdecision-making

Questioned using “war to preventwar”

Opposed Fourteen Points inprinciple

Believed membership in Leaguewould risk U.S. security andembroil the nation in incessantwars over power politics

MISTAKES Wilson appealed to voters to elect a Democratic Congress in 1918. Voters

narrowly returned a Republican Congress. Wilson goaded partisan forces, riskedhis own prestige, and lost.

He went to Paris (no president had ever traveled abroad while in office) and wascharged with having a messianic complex.

He failed to invite key Republicans to take part in the delegation at Versailles. He played with the idea of a third term. He compromised abroad but failed to compromise at home. Wilson refused to defer to mild reservationists who were unhappy with Lodge’s

strong reservations. Wilson’s reservations differed only slightly from those ofLodge.

He foolishly called for a national referendum on the League in the summer of1919.

Wilson suffered an unfortunate and crippling stroke at a key point in theratification debate.

He broke with his advisors and refused to receive British ambassadors. He dismissed Secretary of State Robert Lansing at an inopportune time. Wilson probably should have resigned on medical grounds. He urged Democrats to vote the treaty down.

NOBLE DEFEAT Ultimately many Americans were not wholly prepared to fulfill the

international obligations that the League Covenant demanded. A healthyWilson probably would have found common ground with moderateRepublicans in the Senate who had reservations about the League andwould have achieved ratification of the treaty by the fall of 1919. Thepresident, after making a national speaking tour on behalf of the League,suffered a debilitating stroke which paralyzed his left side and causedsevere brain damage, leaving him unable to view the political situationpragmatically. Consequently, he twice prevented Democrats in theSenate from making the treaty’s ratification possible.

Historians have marveled that the treaty failed and the U.S. stayed outof the League because it is clear that most Senators favored the treatyand the League in some form. Had Wilson been willing to compromisewith Lodge and the reservationists, the treaty would have been ratified.And the U.S. would have tied its fate to that of Europe. Perhaps the nextworld war could have been avoided, in which case the twentieth centurywould have had a far less tragic history. Nevertheless, Wilson, theidealistic architect of a democratic postwar world order that failed tomaterialize, did inspire democratic ideals and collective security efforts oflater generations.

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