Topic 12 - Imperialism and World War I (1853-1919)

Lesson 5 - Entering the War

Early in the war, President Wilson tried to bring both sides to peace talks. He believed that the United States, as a neutral nation, could lead warring nations to a fair peace, a “peace without victory.” But Wilson’s peace efforts failed.

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When war came, American women like these went to work in munitions factories and other jobs. How did the war change their lives?

Guiding Questions

Why did the United States declare war?
How did the government prepare for and manage the war effort?
How did the war affect Americans at home?

Vocabulary

warmonger
Zimmermann telegram
Selective Service Act
illiterate
bureaucracy
Liberty Bond
pacifist
socialism

Academic Vocabulary

exposure
embark

How Did the U.S. Move Toward War?

Even as he was trying to make peace, Wilson knew that the United States might be drawn into the war. Thus, the President began to lobby for a stronger army and navy.

In 1916, Wilson ran for reelection against Republican Charles Evans Hughes. Although Hughes also favored neutrality, Democrats were able to portray him as a warmonger, or person who tries to stir up war. At the same time, they boosted Wilson’s image with the slogan “He kept us out of war!”

The race was close. On election night, Hughes went to bed believing he had won. Just after midnight, his telephone rang. “The President cannot be disturbed,” a friend told the caller.

“Well, when he wakes up,” the caller replied, “just tell him he isn’t President.” Late returns from California had given Wilson the election.

Analyze Graphs

The race for president in 1916 was between Woodrow Wilson and Charles Hughes.

Draw Conclusions Based on the graphs, what conclusions can you draw about the American public’s opinion of Woodrow Wilson?

Diplomacy Ends

In January 1917, Wilson issued what proved to be his final plea for peace. It was too late.

In a desperate effort to break the Allied blockade, Germany had already decided to renew submarine warfare. Germany warned neutral nations that after February 1, 1917, its U-boats would have orders to sink any ship nearing Britain. German leaders knew that renewed U-boat attacks would probably bring the United States into the war. They gambled that they would defeat the Allies before American troops could reach Europe.

To protest Germany’s action, Wilson broke off diplomatic relations with Germany.

The Zimmermann Note

A few weeks later, in February, a startling discovery moved the United States closer to war. President Wilson learned that Arthur Zimmermann, Germany’s foreign secretary, had sent a secret note to the German minister in Mexico. The Zimmermann telegram instructed the minister to urge Mexico to attack the United States if the United States declared war on Germany. In return, Germany would help Mexico win back its “lost provinces” in the American Southwest, which would include all of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. When Americans heard about the Zimmermann telegram, anti-German feeling soared.

The Russian Revolution

Two other events in early 1917 pushed the United States still closer to war. First, German submarines sank several American merchant ships. Second, a revolution in Russia drove Czar Nicholas II from power.

For hundreds of years, czars, or Russian emperors, had ruled with absolute power. Several times in the 1800s and early 1900s, Russians revolted against czarist rule. Their efforts ended in failure.

When the war in Europe began in 1914, Russians united behind the czar. However, as the war brought heavy losses at the front and economic hardship at home, discontent resurfaced. In March 1917, riots protesting the shortage of food turned into a revolution. The czar was forced to step down. Revolutionaries then set up a provisional government and called for democratic reforms.

President Wilson welcomed the Russian Revolution. He was a firm believer in democracy, and it was against his principles to be an ally of an absolute ruler. Without the czar, it would be easier for Wilson to support the Allied cause.

Declaration of War

Finally, President Wilson went before Congress on April 2, 1917, to ask for a declaration of war. “The world must be made safe for democracy,” he declared. His war message assured the American people that entering the war was not only just; it was noble.

Congress voted for war 455 to 56. Among those who voted against the declaration was Jeannette Rankin of Montana, the first woman elected to Congress. She hated war as much as she loved her country. “I want to stand by my country, but I cannot vote for war. I vote no!” she said.

On April 6, the President signed the declaration of war. It thrust Americans into the deadliest war the world had yet seen.

READING CHECK

Sequence Outline the events that led the United States into World War I.

Americans Prepare for War

The day after Congress declared war, George M. Cohan wrote a new song. The patriotic tune swept the nation. Its opening lines expressed the confidence that Americans felt:

Primary Source

“Over there, over there, Send the word, send the word, over there, That the Yanks are coming . . .”

—George M. Cohan, “Over There,” 1917

Its closing message promised, “We’ll be over, we’re coming over, And we won’t come back till it’s over over there.”

Americans had to do more than sing patriotic tunes, however. They had to prepare to fight—and quickly. The Allies needed everything from food to arms. Britain and France were on the verge of collapse. In Russia, soldiers were deserting to join the Russian Revolution.

Analyze Images

Less than five months after his re-election in November 1916, President Wilson read his war message to Congress.

Identify Cause and Effect What made President Wilson change his mind about entering the war?

The Military Expands

Before it could fight, the United States needed to enlarge its armed forces. On May 18, 1917, Congress passed the Selective Service Act. It required all men from ages 21 to 30 to register for the military draft. A draft is a law requiring people of a certain age to serve in the military.

In the next 18 months, 4 million men and women joined the armed forces. People from every ethnic group enlisted. About 20,000 Puerto Ricans served in the armed forces, as did many Filipinos. Scores of soldiers were immigrants who had recently arrived in the United States.

Many American Indians were not citizens, so they could not be drafted. Large numbers of American Indians enlisted anyway. One family of Winnebago Indians provided 35 volunteers. They served together in the same unit.

At first, the armed forces did not allow African Americans in combat. When the government abandoned this policy, more than 2 million African Americans registered for the draft. Nearly 400,000 were accepted for duty. They were formed into segregated “black only” units that were commanded mostly by white officers. Still, African Americans rallied to the war effort.

Analyze Graphs

As soon as the United States entered the war, it had to build up its armed forces and prepare them to go overseas.

Draw Conclusions Based on the data, what can you conclude about the popularity of the war among Americans?

Educating Recruits

For many recruits, the army offered several firsts. It was their first exposure to military authority and discipline. It was the first time most had ventured outside their farms and villages, let alone outside their country. Some had never taken regular baths or eaten regular meals before. Others had never used indoor plumbing. About 25 percent were illiterate, that is, unable to read or write. The army became a great educator. It taught millions of young Americans not only how to fight but also how to read, how to plan and eat nutritious meals, and how to care for their daily health needs.

Shocking rates of illiteracy and other low test scores among recruits fueled a drive to reform public education. State and local school boards lengthened the school day and required students to spend more years in school. They raised teacher-training standards. More truancy officers patrolled the streets. By 1920, nearly 75 percent of all school-age children were enrolled in school.

READING CHECK

Summarize How did the United States expand its military?

Organizing a Massive War Effort

The United States reorganized its economy to produce food, arms, and the many other goods needed to fight the war. President Wilson set up government agencies to oversee the effort. A huge bureaucracy (byoo rok ruh see) emerged to manage the war effort. A bureaucracy is a system of managing government through departments run by appointed officials.

Food Production

Wilson chose Herbert Hoover to be head of the Food Administration. Hoover’s job was to boost food production to feed American troops and send food to the Allies. Hoover relied on cooperation rather than force. He tried to win support for his programs with publicity campaigns that encouraged Americans to act voluntarily. “Food Will Win the War,” proclaimed one Food Administration poster. In response, citizens planted “victory gardens” to raise their own vegetables. People went without wheat on “wheatless Mondays” and without meat on “meatless Tuesdays.” The food they saved helped feed the men in the trenches.

U.S. farm production also increased. The war in Europe decreased worldwide food supplies. That caused food prices to rise, which encouraged American farmers to grow more crops.

Analyze Images

This poster encouraged Americans to plant “victory gardens.”

Infer Munition means “military weapon or equipment.” What does the caption “Every Garden a Munition Plant” mean?

Industry

War caught the nation short of military supplies. The U.S. Army had on hand only around 600,000 rifles, 2,000 machine guns, and fewer than 1,000 pieces of artillery. Disorder threatened as the military competed with private industry to buy scarce materials.

To meet this crisis, President Wilson set up a new government agency, the War Industries Board. It told factories what they had to produce. It also provided for the sharing of limited resources and decided what prices should be set.

Without the support of workers, industry could not mobilize. In 1918, Wilson created the War Labor Board. It settled disputes over working hours and wages and tried to prevent strikes. With workers in short supply, unions were able to win better pay and working conditions. Railroad workers, for example, gained a large wage increase and an eight-hour workday. With the President supporting workers, union membership rose sharply and labor unrest declined.

Analyze Images

This image shows new recruits training to use machine guns.

Use Visual Information What does the picture tell you about how recruits were prepared?

Financing the War

Conducting a war also required paying for it. The War Revenue Act sharply raised taxes on personal and corporate income. Additionally, movie stars, such as Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford, helped sell Liberty Bonds. By buying bonds, American citizens were lending money to the government to pay for the war. The sale of Liberty Bonds raised $21 billion, just over half of what the United States spent on the war.

To rally public support for the war, the government sent out 75,000 men known as “Four-Minute Men” to speak to the American people. The name reminded people of the heroic minutemen of 1776. It also referred to the four-minute speeches the men gave at public events, movies, and theatrical productions. The speakers urged Americans to make sacrifices for the goals of freedom and democracy.

Analyze Images

Celebrities such as movie star Charlie Chaplin, shown here, encouraged Americans to buy Liberty Bonds.

Identify Supporting Details Why did Americans buy Liberty Bonds?

READING CHECK

Summarize How did United States domestic policy boost production during the war?

Changes at Home

The changes brought about by the war affected Americans’ lives in a variety of ways.

Women Join the Work Force

As men joined the armed forces, women stepped into men’s jobs. Women received better pay in war industries than they had in peacetime. Still, they earned less than the men they replaced.

In factories, women assembled military goods such as weapons and airplane parts. Some women drove trolley cars and delivered the mail. Others served as police officers, railroad engineers, or electric-lift truck drivers. By performing well in jobs once reserved for men, women helped change the view that they were fit only for “women’s work.” Most of the gains made by women later disappeared when the men returned to the workforce at the end of the war. Thousands of women lost jobs as army defense workers.

Anti-German Prejudice

German Americans endured suspicion and intolerance during the war. Newspapers questioned their loyalty. Mobs attacked them on the streets. In 1918, a mob lynched Robert Prager, whose only crime was that he had been born in Germany. A jury later refused to convict the mob leaders.

Anti-German prejudice led some families to change their names. Schools stopped teaching the German language. Americans began referring to German measles as “liberty measles” and sauerkraut as “liberty cabbage.”

Urban Migration

The war spurred migration within the nation. Immigration from abroad had stopped. The draft drained cities and factories of needed workers. But cities soon swelled with newcomers.

During the war, almost a half million African Americans and thousands of Mexican Americans embarked on a great migration from the South and Southwest to cities in the North.

In northern cities, many African Americans found better-paying jobs in war industries. As a result, African American migration continued after the war ended. At the same time, however, they ran into prejudice and even violence. Competition for housing and jobs sometimes led to race riots. Thirty-nine African Americans were killed during a 1917 riot in East St. Louis, Illinois. A New York parade protested the deaths. Marchers carried signs demanding, “Mr. President, Why Not Make AMERICA Safe for Democracy?”

Analyze Images

This photo shows African Americans making ammunition in a New York factory in 1917.

Recognize Multiple Causes Why did African Americans move north in the early years of the 1900s?

International Migration

In the Southwest, ranchers pressed the government to let more Mexicans cross the border. Almost 100,000 Mexicans entered the United States to work on farms. By 1920, Mexicans were the leading foreign-born group in California. Some Mexicans moved on to northern cities to work in factories.

Throughout the war, Mexicans worked in cotton and beet fields, in copper mines, and in steel mills. All these jobs were important to the war effort. Yet after the war, when veterans returned and unemployment grew, the United States tried to force Mexican workers to return to Mexico.

READING CHECK

Classify and Categorize Which groups saw permanent changes in their situations because of the war? Which groups experienced only temporary changes?

Silencing Opposition

Some Americans opposed the war. Among them were Progressives such as Jane Addams. Many of these critics were pacifists, people who refuse to fight in any war because they believe that all war is wrong.

Antiwar feeling also ran high among Socialists and radical labor groups. Socialism is an economic system in which individuals own personal property but the public owns the means of production, such as factories and natural resources. Socialists argued that the war benefited factory owners but not workers.

To encourage unity, Congress passed laws making it a crime to criticize the government or to interfere with the war effort. Nearly 1,600 men and women were arrested for breaking these laws. Eugene V. Debs, Socialist Party candidate for President five times, was jailed for protesting the draft.

The government also jailed “Big Bill” Haywood, head of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a radical union. Using special powers granted under the wartime laws, government authorities ransacked the IWW’s offices.

A few people questioned these laws. They argued that silencing critics violated the Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of speech. Most Americans, however, felt that the laws were necessary in wartime.

Analyze Images

Once America entered the war, recruiting posters like this one from 1917 began to appear.

Summarize Why did the United States need to persuade Americans to enlist?

READING CHECK

Understand Effects How were freedom of speech, of the press, and of association restricted during the war?

Lesson Check

How did the Zimmermann telegram help draw the United States into World War I?
What was the Selective Service Act, and why did the United States adopt it during World War I?
Why would a pacifist oppose the U.S. entry into World War I?
Summarize changes in migration patterns in the United States during World War I.
Identify Main Ideas How did women’s roles change in the United States during World War I?
Writing Workshop: Support Thesis with Details Write details you have learned from reading this topic that support your thesis statement. You will use these details as you draft your essay. Based on your reading, you may also wish to revise your thesis statement.

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