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First World War At Home

First World War At Home. Essential Questions: How did governmental powers expand as a result of World War I? How was the economy impacted by World War I? How did the U.S. endeavor to sell the war to the American people?

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First World War At Home

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  1. First World War At Home Essential Questions: How did governmental powers expand as a result of World War I? How was the economy impacted by World War I? How did the U.S. endeavor to sell the war to the American people? How were German and Austria-Hungarian citizens treated during the First World War? How did the war progress the movement for racial social change?

  2. Congress Gives Power to Wilson • WWI was the most intense conflict the nation had been involved in up to that point • Government & business had to work together to fight the war • War Industries Board (WIB) • Encouraged companies to use mass-production to increase efficiency • Had industry eliminate waste by standardizing products • Food Administration • Headed by Herbert Hoover • Said one day a week people “go meatless”, another “sweetless”, two days “wheatless”, and two others “porkless”

  3. Selling The War • War Economy • Wages for most blue-collar workers rose 20% during war • However, this was undercut by rising food and housing prices • U.S. spent $35 billion on the war effort, about 1/3 of these was raised through taxes • Progressive Income Tax (taxed higher incomes more) • War-Profits Tax • Excise Tax on tobacco, liquor, and luxury goods • Government sold “Victory Bonds” and “Liberty Bonds” to raise money

  4. Committee on Public Information (CPI) • To sell war government setup the first propaganda agency (CPI) • Headed by former muckraker journalist, George Creel • Creel convinced nations artists to create thousands of paintings, posters, cartoons, and sculptures promoting the war • Ordered 25 million copies of “How the War Came to America” • Had Wilson’s war message • Printed in multiple languages • In the end the propaganda effort was highly effective • But turned citizens against those with enemy ancestry

  5. Attacks on Civil Liberties • Attacks against German and Austria-Hungarian born immigrants increased • German citizens lost jobs • Orchestras stopped playing German music • German was not taught in school • Hamburger became a “Liberty Sandwich” • Espionage and Sedition Acts • Could be fined up to $10,000 and sentenced to 20 years in jail for interfering with war effort • Could not say anything disloyal, profane, or abusive about government or war effort • Law clearly violated the spirit of the 1st amendment

  6. War Encourages Social Change • Leaders like W.E.B. Du Bois believed Black support for war would strengthen racial justice • Others believed victims of racism should not support racist governments • WWI Accelerated the large scale movement of hundreds of thousands of southern Blacks to cities in the North (Great Migration) • Outbreak of WWI and drop in European immigration opened new jobs in North • Women filled jobs vacated by men and served in Red Cross • This support of war helped bolster public support for woman suffrage

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