Chapter 20 World War I 20-3: The War at Home
There are no armies in this struggle; there are entire nations armed. - Wilson Americans paid $33million for the war raised through four Liberty Bond issues during the war and one Victory Bond issue after the armistice promoted by posters, parades, and rallies William McAdoo secretary of treasury Wilson's son in law - Every person who refuses to subscribe . . . . is a a friend of Germany Ended up raising $23 billion Govt increased tax to raise money. - $9 billion Federal war boards set prices and production levels of hundreds of commodities and regulated businesses crucial to war effort. Food Administration and the Fuel Administration federal war boards charged with regulating the production and supply of essential resources. 1. Food Administration Herbert Hoover encourage increased agricultural production and to conserve existing food supplies 2. Wartime Production Hoover guaranteed farmers high prices - food will win the war, - called on Americans to reduce their food consumption by observing wheat less and meatless days. victory diets filled with vegetables. 3. Fuel Administration Harry Garfield son of former president encouraged to observe heatless Mondays. - Nation ran short of coal in 1918 he closed all factories each of MI for several days. 4. Railroad Administration William McAdoo reorganized the railroads, setting limits on transportation rates and workers' wages. 5. War Industries Board (WIB) Wall Street banker Bernard Baruch allocated scarce materials, establishing production priorities and setting prices. - preferred to persuade business leaders threatened to take over foundries and mills and steel owners refused to cut prices. 6. National War Labor Board (NWLB) April 1918, composed of representative from business and labor arbitrated disputes between workers and employers AFL membership went from 2 to 3.2 million 15% of nonagricultural work force was unionized. Norma B. Kastl interviewer with a women's service bureau
Carrie Chapman Catt women's suffrage leader sat on the Women's Committee of the Council of national defense a civilian agency organized to support the war effort. Harriot Stanton Blatch daughter of Cady Stanton headed the Food Administrations Speaker's Bureau The greatest thing that came out of the war was the emancipation of women, for which no man fought - Carrie Chapman Catt 150,000 men and women migrated from Mexico to the US during the war Agricultural, railroad, mining jobs in Arizona, Cali, Colorado, NM and Texas, Cleveland and Chicago. Great Migration Persuaded by recruitment agents sent by the PE railroad and other large employers, hundreds of thousands of African Americans moved northward during the war years, 200000-550000.
1. Get out of the South - an editorial in the Chicago Defender 2. Come north...The Defender says come. 3. Racial Violence was a problem 4. East St. Louis Illinois July 2, 1917 wartime racial incident White rioters egged on by spectators rampaged through black neighborhoods in an orgy of burning and shooting that left at least 39 dead Committee on Public Information (CPI) 1917 Wilson George Ceel waged a vigorous propaganda campaign to sell the war to Americans. 1. Censored to present an upbeat picture of the war 2. churning raw propaganda 3. Pictured germans as evil monsters 4. Movies The Claws of the Hun The Prussian Cur The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin 5. Pamphlets warned citizens to be on the lookout for German spies 6. Patriotic Organizations American Protective League American Defensive Society spied, tapped telephones, opened mail in an effort to ferret out spies and traitors. - targeted for peace lookers german books were vanished from libraries, schools stopped teaching German related courses german music was gone renamed german sounding items 7. Vigilantes humiliated German heritage, forcing them to kiss the flag, recite Pledge of Allegiance buy war bonds. - March 1918, John H. Wintherbotham midwestern rep. For Council of National Defense
Quaker and Mennonite men committed by faith to nonviolence refused to take up arms faced violence and abuse like traitors Jeannette Rankin, Senator Robert La Follette and Jane Adams never stopped calling for peace Pacifists Socialist Party opposed IWW, radical labor union, had a view of the war and led strikes in a number of war-related industries. Espionage Act of 1917 Sedition Act of 1918 outlawed acts of treason by made it a crime to utter, print, write, or publish any disloyal . . . or abusive language criticizing the government, the flag, or the military. - opposition to the draft, to war bond drives, or to arms industry became ac rime. 1000 people were convicted of crimes Victor Berger, Socialist received 20 year sentence for publishing antiwar articles in The Milwaukee Leader Eugene V. Debs, Socialist went to prison for 10 years for making an antiwar speech Espionage and Sedition violated first amendment Schenck v. US (1919) Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes