Transcript 'The question in every case is whether the words used are

The US Enters the War and
The Home Front
Discuss the reasons that the US entered
WWI.
Explain the role of the US early in the war.
Evaluate the impact of WWI on the home
front of America.
The US Enters War

Reasons the US entered WWI
Limits on Atlantic trade and travel
 Germany’s violation of the Sussex pledge
 US bankers’ loans to the Allies
 Preparedness for the war – National Defense
Act

The Great War (1914-1918)


Zimmermann
Telegram (1
March)
Sent by German
Foreign Minister
Arthur
Zimmermann to
the German
Ambassador in
Washington, DC
The Great War (1914-1918)
 “.
. . lost
territory in
Texas, New
Mexico, and
Arizona.”

March 1917 – Germany sank 3 merchant
marine ships
The Great War (1914-1918)

Congress
approved
Wilson’s
request for a
declaration of
war “to make
the world safe
for democracy.”
(6 April 1917)
Selective Service Act (1917)
established a draft, ending the
time-honored volunteer system;
men 21 to 30, later 18 to 45
 US government sold $5 Billion in
bonds; $3 billion loaned to the
Allies

US Role in the War (Early)
14,000 men of the American
Expeditionary Forces (AEF) arrived in
France (June 1917)
 Fought separately

Bellringer

What were these called in WWI? Why?
Introduction
During war, what happens to our civil
liberties? Why?
 During war, what happens to nationalism?
 Impact on intolerance?

Body –The Home Front

Mobilizing the Economy
War Industries Board –Centralized Economy
 Federal Government directed

 Manufacturing
 Food
Production
 Fuel Production
 Transportation
WIB = Bernard Baruch -Head

Goals
Set and Meet Production Quotas
 Allocate Raw Materials
 Increase Efficiency
 Industrial Production Increased 20%

Daylight Savings Time

Implemented to Save Fuel
National War Labor Board
Collective bargaining
 8 Hour Workday in exchange for “No
Strike Pledge”
 Labor membership increases

Food Administration
Conserve Food and Increase Production
 Herbert Hoover = Leader
 “Meatless Mondays and Wheatless
Wednesdays”

Fuel
Administration
Mobilizing Public Opinion

War opposition
Irish Americans
 German Americans
 Socialist Party

Creel Committee

Committee on Public Information
George Creel – leader
 150 K lecturers, artists, etc.
 “4 Minute Men”
 Negative Impacts

 Anti
German sentiment
 Ban on foreign languages in some states
 Lynchings
Civil Liberties in Wartime
Espionage Act (1917) and Sedition Act
(1918) – outlawed interfering with the draft
or criticizing the war
 Schenck v. US case

Schenck = socialist – pamphlets opposing the
draft found – arrested for violating the
Espionage Act
 Fought on 1st Amendment

"The question in every case is whether the words
used are used in such circumstances and are of
such a nature as to create a clear and present
danger that they will bring about the substantive
evils that Congress has a right to prevent."
This case is also the source of the phrase
"shouting fire in a crowded theatre," a
misquotation of Holmes' view that "The most
stringent protection of free speech would not
protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a
theatre and causing a panic."
Changes in the Workplace

National War Labor Board
Collective bargaining
 Mediation
 More Women working – increased finances
and freedom

Great Migration
Many blacks moved to Industrial
Midwestern towns
 500 K estimated
 Increased hostility in north and south

HW

Read and outline 486-491