WWI Era : Home Front(What happens at home?)
Economics :Financing The War with Liberty Bonds• U.S. economy not prepared for a war
• Government borrowed money from US
citizens by issued Liberty Bonds
• Bonds - Redeemed in the future for face value
plus interest (what are bonds you ask?)
• Bond Advertisements raised $20 billion
• Boy & Girl scouts advertised
• Artists drew posters
• Actors & actresses - advertised
Economics: Managing the Private Economy
Gov’t managed industry by Agencies Agencies worked to increase war related output &
establish price controls
Created daylight savings
Distributed raw materials
Set standard wages, hours, conditions
Gov’t Rations for citizens Lever Food & Fuel Control Act - 1917
Rationing was implemented for food & fuel
Instituted gasless days
Enforcing Loyalty
• Government Censorship• Censorship of the press & banning certain
publications
• Use of Propaganda• Committee of Public Information created in order to
rally war support
• Public fear of foreigners & terrorism led to restrictions on immigration
• General hostility towards Germans:• German composers and musicians banned
from playing• Hamburger renamed the Liberty Sandwich• Some Germans were assaulted and lynched
Repressing Civil Liberties
• Espionage Act - 1917
• Illegal to interfere with the draft
• Sedition Act – 1918
• Illegal to obstruct the sale of Liberty
Bonds
• Illegal to say anything disloyal, profane
or abusive about gov’t, constitution &
military
• Repression of
• Freedoms of Speech, criticism, dissent
Social ChangesRestrictions on immigration & the draft depletes the labor pool...
• Great Migration starts - 500K African Americans moved from S. states to N. factories
• Opportunities for women
•400K women joined the workforce
Social Changes : The Great Migration• Northbound movement of nearly six million African Americans
between 1915 and 1970
http://vellastrations.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/what-is-the-great-migration/
Social Changes
• Prohibition was passed in 1917
• Outlawed the manufacturing, sale, transportation & consumption of alcohol in the United States
• Alcohol required wheat and grain, which was needed to support the war effort.
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