Transcript World War I Lecture

WWI
1914-1918
Causes
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Nationalism
Imperialism
Industrialization
Militarism
Alliances
“Spark” = Assassination of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand of Austria.
Initial US Response
 Wilson proclaimed American
neutrality.
 Asked American people to also
remain neutral.
 Most Americans wanted neutrality.
 Immigrants alligned with their home
countries.
 Most support British.
Attempted Neutrality
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German and British actions bring U.S. closer to war.
 British Blocked German ports.
 German respond with U-Boats.
-- U-Boats sunk U.S. merchant ships.
 U.S. press reports on German war atrocities.
 Theodore Roosevelt and others start National Security
League =bankers and industrialists prepare for war.
 Germany sinks the Lusitania (passenger ship) killing
128 American civilians.
 1915 (1). Germany ends unrestricted sub-warfare.
(Sussex Pledge)
US Enters War
 1917 Germany resumes unrestricted
submarine warfare- over U.S. protests.
 Zimmerman Telegram= proposed MexicanGerman alliances.
 April 1917- Wilson asks Congress for
declaration of war.
 Mobilization
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U.S. not ready for war
-only 120,000 troops
-little equipment
- Selective Service Act (1917)
Mobilizing the Economy
 1. War industries Board
-Established production priorities and
efficiency practices.
 2. Food Administration
-Oversight of food production and
civilians conservation efforts
 3. Government takes over and runs
railroad during the war.
Selling the War (Propaganda)
 George Creel
 1. Committee on Public Information
- used movies, posters, public
speakers.
 Treasury uses propaganda to sell war
bonds and convince people of the
need for higher taxes.
Support for the War
 Progressives, muckrakers, teachers and
intellectuals
-War will help spread liberal-democracy
at home and abroad.
 German-Americans/ war protestors
attacked
 Opponents included: German and Irish
Americans, pacifists, and Socialists.
 Socialists = war was used to spread capitalism
Suppressing Dissent
 Espionage and Sedition Acts
 Illegal to criticize the war, government,
constitution, army.
 Hundreds of pacifists and socialists
jailed (Eugene Debs)
 1919 Supreme Court upheld Acts
(still law today) Schenck v. US
Government Excess & Threats to the
Civil Liberties of Americans
1. Espionage Act – 1917
- forbade actions that
obstructed recruitment or
efforts to promote
insubordination in the military.
- ordered the Postmaster General
to remove Leftist materials
from the mail.
- fines of up to $10,000 and/or
up to 20 years in prison.
Government Excess & Threats
to the Civil Liberties of Americans
2. Sedition Act – 1918
- it was a crime to speak against the
purchase of war bonds or willfully
utter, print, write or publish any
disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or
abusive language about this form of US
Govt., the US Constitution, or the US
armed forces or to willfully urge, incite,
or advocate any curtailment of
production of things necessary or
essential to the prosecution of the
war…with intent of such curtailment to
cripple or hinder, the US in the
prosecution of the war.
Government Excess & Threats
to the Civil Liberties of Americans
3. Schenck v. US – 1919
- in ordinary times the mailing of the
leaflets would have been protected by the
1st Amendment.
- BUT, every act of speech must be judged
acc. to the circumstances in which it was
spoken.
-The most stringent protection of free
speech would not protect a man in falsely
shouting fire in a theater and causing a
panic. [Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes]
- If an act of speech posed a clear and
present danger, then Congress had
the power to restrain such speech.
Changes
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1. Boom for agriculture and industry.
2. Prices and protection rise.
3. Job seekers flood urban areas putting strain on housing.
4. African Americans migrated North (Great Migration).
5. European immigration declines.
6. Racial tensions increased.
7. Race riots occur in major cities during and after war –
Chicago 19198. Woman work in factories (1 mil)
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11,000 serve in army.
Woman lost most of their wartime gains.
Woman’s contribution did lead to 19th amendment.
Government Excess & Threats
to the Civil Liberties of Americans
6. “The Red Scare”:
 1919 - 3rd. International
goal --> promote worldwide
communism.
 Attorney General, A. Mitchell
Palmer (The Case Against the
Reds)
 Palmer Raids - 1920
The “Red Scare”
“What a Year Has Brought Forth” – NY World
Coal Miners’ Strike - 1919
“Keeping Warm” – Los Angeles Times
Steel Strike - 1919
“Coming Out of the Smoke” – New York World
“Red Scare” -- Anti-Bolshevism
“Put Them Out & Keep Them Out” –
Philadelphia Inquirer