U.S. Mobilization: WW1 Home Front

1. U.S. Mobilization: WW1 Home Front

2. Essential Question: • How did American efforts at home help win the war and transform the American economy & society?

3. “Over Here (Home Front)” • To win over there, the U.S. had to effectively mobilize over here • Wilson consolidated federal authority to organize U.S. war production & distribution • Wilson began a massive propaganda campaign aimed at winning over the American public to support the war effort

4. Mobilization • Wilson named John Pershing to head the American Expeditionary Force (AEF), but despite Wilson’s preparedness campaign, the U.S. was not prepared for full scale war • The army & navy increased in size but military leaders had not prepared a plan for war (“To plan for war is to violate the terms of neutrality”) • Many wanted a volunteer army, but Wilson pressed Congress to pass a Selective Service Act(24 million registered & 2.8 million were drafted to fight in Europe)

5. African-Americans were subject to the draft & fought during WWI in segregated units

6. The War At Home The Entire U.S. Economy Was Focused On The War Effort. This required Business And Government collaboration. In The Process, The Power Of The U.S. Government Expanded.

7. A Bureaucratic War • To coordinate the war effort, 5,000 new gov’t agencies were created: • War Industries Board (WIB) oversaw all factories, determined priorities, fixed consumer prices • WIB director Bernard Baruch became the “dictator of the American economy” • Food Admin supplied food to soldiers by appealing to civilians • Asked for a spirit of self-sacrifice, imposed “meatless” & “wheat-less” days & encouraged Americans to plant “victory gardens” • Fuel Admin rationed coal & oil • Imposed “gasless” days & shut down factories for days to divert or conserve fuel • RR Admin, War Shipping Board, & War Trade Board helped move resources to troops

8. Victory Gardens To conserve food, Wilson set up the Food Administration (FA) which declared one day a week “meatless,” another “sweetless,” and two days “wheatless.” Homeowners planted “victory gardens” Farmers increased production by almost 30% by adding 40 million acres of farmland

9. U.S. Food Administration

10. U.S. Food Administration

11. U.S. Fuel Administration

12. U.S. Shipping Board

13. A Bureaucratic War • WWI was expensive, costing the U.S.$32billion,butwaspaidforby the Treasury through • The government raised about 1/3 of that through an income tax the rest was raised through war bonds sold to the public • LibertyBonds(raised$23billion) • A boost in personal & corporate income taxes (led to $10 billion) • The partnership between business & the gov’t met the war demand & increased business profits 300%

14. The American War Workforce

15. Workers in the War • WWI led to a new alliance between the gov’t & labor unions: • AFL headman Gompers was named to the Council of Nat’l Defense to help enlist union support for the war effort • War Labor Board (WLB) was formed to standardize wages & hours, protect union rights, & give equal pay for women

16. Coal Miner’s Strike 1919 “Keeping Warm”Los Angeles Times

17. Workers in the War • The war called for more laborers: • 8 million women found new, better-paying jobs in war industry (but few housewives entered the workforce, unlike WW2) • 450,000 Southern blacks moved north for new industrial jobs & better pay (led to race riots) • 100,000 Mexican laborers worked in SW farms & ranches

19. Women Helped Recruit & Sell War Bonds

20. Women Joined the Red Cross

21. The True Sons of Freedom Du Bois’New Negro: “We return. We return from fighting. We return fighting.” Returning black soldiers: “I’m glad I went. I done my part & I’m going to fight right here until Uncle Sam does his.”

22. African American “Migration” Northward, 1910-1920

24. “Rescuing a “Negro” during the race riots in Chicago, 1919”

25. Mobilizing the Workforce • National War Labor Board • What are the effects on Women, African Americans and Hispanics? • What are the effects on Labor Unions? • (industrial production and wages increased 20% and union membership increased from 2.5 million to 4 million)

26. Building the Military • What was the effect of the Selective service Act? • What are the roles of Volunteers, Women, and African Americans? • America was not ready for war. Only 200,000 men were in service, so Congress passed the Selective Service Act in May of 1917. • By the end of 1918, 24 million had signed up and almost 3 million were called to duty. About 2 million American troops reached Europe.

27. Women Factory Workers

28. Homefront Propaganda • Wilson formed the Committee on Public Information (CPI) & hired muckraker George Creel to publicize the U.S. war effort: • Voluntary censorship in press • 75,000 “4-minute men” gave speeches (facts or emotions?) • Propaganda motion picture films • The Prussian Curse & The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin • Led to sweeping anti-German sentiment & some vigilantism • Sauerkraut was renamed “Liberty Cabbage” & pretzels were no longer served in bars • Bach, Beethoven, & Brahms were not played in symphonies

29. Propaganda To popularize the war, the government set up the nations first propaganda agency called the Committee on Public Information (CPI) George Creel

30. “The Flag of Liberty represents us all”Which groups are these posters targeting?

38. Homefront Censorship • Wilson encouraged censorship: • Espionage Act—aiding the enemy, obstructing troop recruitment, or encouraging “disloyalty” were declared illegal • Trading-with-the-Enemy Act—censored the foreign press • Sedition Act—made it illegal to speak “disloyally” towards the U.S. gov’t,theflag,orU.S.troops • Wilson set out to encourage U.S. unity (like Lincoln during the Civil War, Wilson was willing to use force if needed)

39. Homefront Censorship • First Amendment restrictions were upheld by the Supreme Court: • 3 cases were decided in 1919: Schenk v US, Debs v US, Abrams v USthat supported gov’t convictions under the Espionage Act of 1917 • Schenk was sentenced for conspiracy to circulate pamphlets encouraging soldiers to mutiny • 1st Amendment rights can be restricted when it presents a “clear & present danger” • (Like “yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater”) • Eugene V. Debs was jailed when his Socialist newsletter Appeal to Reason encouraged Americans to resist enlisting in the military to fight a “capitalists’ war” • The gov’t used the wartime climate to undermine radical labor unions (IWW) & socialism

40. Homefront: The Red Scare • A “red scare” hit America as a result of the Russian Revolution • Americans feared Lenin’s anti-capitalist revolution & were angry over Russia’s pullout on the Eastern Front • Wilson sent troops to the USSR, refused to recognize the new gov’t, & did not allow Russia to attend the post-war conference

41. The Red Scare “What a year has brought forth” NY World

42. The Red Scare “Put Them Out & Keep Them Out”Philadelphia Inquirer

43. The Red Scare: Palmer Raids • In April 1919, at least 36 booby trap bombs were mailed to prominent politicians and appointees as well as newspaper editors and businessmen, including John D. Rockefeller. • U.S. Attorney General Mitchell Palmer’s home was also bombed • Police arrested “suspected Reds’ in Chicago, 1920

44. Palmer used this act of violence as an opportunity to invoke the Alien Act of 1918 & arrested or deported ~6,000 suspected radicals (some were innocent U.S. citizens)

45. Class Debate: Free Speech in Times of War • Appropriate/Inappropriate to Restrict Free Speech during times of War. • Using your handout be ready to discuss the following researched topics: Espionage Act, Sedition Act, Schenck v. United States • How is this similar to to Lincoln and the Civil War?

46. Wilson’s Fourteen Points and the Treaty of Versailles

47. Essential Question: • What were the major provisions of Wilson’s 14 Points & the Treaty of Versailles?

48. Wilson’s Fourteen Points • Wilson believed WW1 presented an opportunity for the USA to take the lead towards world peace: • Wilson saw moral diplomacy as the antidote to imperialism&militaryaggression • Wilson’s plan for peace was the Fourteen Points based on progressive liberalism & improved international relations

49. The Treaty of Versailles • Wilson’s Fourteen Points contained 3 main themes: • To create new nations out of weakened empires based on “national self-determination”(i.e. austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Turkey) • To create new international rules: freedom of the seas, no more secret treaties, reduce militarism • To create a League of Nations to solve future problems

50. Wilson and WW1 Aftermath • Wilson’s 14 points in his own short hand Complete the Graphic Organizer on Wilson’s 14 points and the “Treaty of Versailles.” (pay close attention to the Senate opposition) Read the selected portions from the “Treaty of Versailles” and be ready to discuss them.