Transcript Wilsonian Progressivism, At Home and Abroad, 1912-1916

Wilsonian Progressivism, At
Home and Abroad, 1912-1916
WORLD WAR 1 AT HOME
Wilson Deals with Growing
Conflict in Europe
United States a Neutral Country??
 Exports to European nations tell a different story
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Exports to Ally nations rose dramatically from 1914-1916
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Britain, France, Italy (joined Allies in April, 1915)
Exports to Germany declined dramatically over the same period
What was the biggest problem the United States faced in
regards to remaining neutral during WWI?
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Sinking of the British liner, Lusitania, killing 128 American and 4200
cases of small arms ammo
Sinking of the British liner, the Arabic, killing 2 Americans.
Berlin agrees not to sink unarmed passenger ships without warning.
French passenger vessel, Sussex, is brought down by U-Boats.
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Berlin wants British blockade lifted, Wilson declines, Germany still accepts.
Wilson Deals with Growing
Conflict in Europe
What was the final straw that pulled the United States into
World War I?
 Germany’s resumption of unrestricted submarine
warfare
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In all, they sunk 7 US merchant ships
 Zimmerman Note. What was it?
• Promise of “general financial support”
• Mexico would regain territory
• British presented telegram to Wilson on February 25, 1917
• March 1: Published in newspapers – outrages Americans…….
“There is no question about going to war. Germany is already at war
with us.”
-former Pres. T. Roosevelt
The US in World War I - Entry
Causes of US Entry into WWI
1. Unrestricted German submarine warfare
2. Zimmermann Telegraph
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Message from Germany to Mexico pledging to help them reclaim the
territory lost during the Mexican-American War.
Open declaration that Germany will resume U-Boat warfare.
Intercepted by the British and turned over to the US.
Fighting the War
 US thought they could send naval fleets to aid the allies,
not troops.
 May, 1917: BR and FR appear to be exhausting their
resources. Both monetary and man-power.
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A significant US army would have to be raised.
The US in World War I - Entry
Selective Service Act, 1917
1. Required all males between the ages of 18-45 to register.
2. No “draft-dodgers.” No purchasing an exemption or hiring a
substitute.
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Men in key industries could receive a pass (Such as shipbuilding)
 Army grew to 4 million men
 Women were admitted to the armed forces for the first time
 11,000 to the navy
 269 to the marines
 African Americans were still in segregated units
 Served mostly in support and supply units under white officers
 Military segregation remains until Truman’s Executive Order 9981
Labor’s Role in the War Effort
-The Home FrontHow Did Labor Effect the War Effort?
1.
Blacks came in large numbers to the North to fill steel, mining,
and transportation jobs.
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Great Migration: leads to significant social and economic changes (i.e., the
Harlem Renaissance)
AFL (led by Samuel Gompers) actively supported the war.
Women began to fill factory jobs left open by men going to war.
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Coordination of industrial production was organized in order to benefit the war
effort.
Fruits of Labor?
 National American Woman Suffrage Association supported the war.
 Wilson endorses women’s suffrage as “a vitally necessary war
measure.”
 1917: New York, Michigan, Oklahoma, and South Dakota vote for
suffrage at the state level.
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1920: 19th Amendment passes, 80 years after first calls for women’s suffrage at
Seneca Falls.
Propaganda and Squashing Dissent
Establishing the Right Thoughts
 April 1917: George Creel establishes the Committee on Public Information
to manufacture consent for the US role in WWI.
 The CPI endeavored to do persuade Americans:
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2.
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That the US was fighting savages in Germany
That the US was fighting for democracy
That a German invasion of the US was possible
That buying government bonds would help the war effort
Stiffening Dissent
 Espionage Act, 1917: makes it a crime to distribute information on national
security to those not authorized to have it.
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Daniel Ellsburg: the Pentagon Papers
Chelsea Manning: Wikileaks
 Sedition Act, 1918: forbids "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive
language" about the government, its flag, or its armed forces.
 Schneck v. U.S.: codifies that speech could be regulated when they pose “a
clear and present danger” to the well being of the nation.
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Liberty Cabbage and Liberty Sausage
Wilson Lays Out Fourteen Points for
World Peace
 January 8, 1918: The speech, before congress,
proposed the extension of free trade, open
agreements, democracy, and self determination.
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Outlines the points of Wilsonian Idealism
US contributions to the war were: foodstuffs, munitions,
credits, oil, and man-power.
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Not major victories in battle
 Treaty of Versailles
 Wilson proposes the League of Nations, runs into immediate
opposition in congress.
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Main opponent was Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge
Wilson Lays Out Fourteen Points for
World Peace
 President Woodrow Wilson
 Proposes
Fourteen Points
 1-5 = Prevention of Future Wars
 6-13 = Boundary Change / Break up empires
 14th = League of Nations
General association of nations that agreed on
“talking” out problems rather than going to
war
Treaty of Versailles
Lodge and Republican Opposition
 Main gripe was US admittance to the League of
Nations.
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Ardent isolationists in the Senate didn’t want the US tied to an
international body (so-called “irreconcilables”)
Other senators thought that it could pull the US into
unnecessary foreign entanglement.
This opposition dooms the treaty in the US b/c both sides were
unwilling to make concessions.
The Red Scare
 The government orchestrated organized attacks on
radicals and foreigners
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This period is known as the “Red Scare”
 Attorney General of the US is A. Mitchell Palmer
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Mobilized officials to arrest or deport “Reds” suspicious of any
un-American activity
 They conducted investigations and raids on
headquarters of anarchists and known radicals
The Red Scare
 In these “Palmer Raids”
there were 4,000-10,000
arrests.
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Radicals jailed w/o formal
charges for several months
1,000’s were deported back to
Europe
 Today…
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What would happen if the US
tried to round up and deport
anyone who we thought might
be a terrorist?
What legally, would be wrong
with that?
Where would you start?