Chapter 6 Section 2: Home front WWI

  1. Building up the Military
  2. Selective Service
  3. After declaring war, the army and National Guard had 370k, so congress felt that more soldiers need to be drafted.
  4. Progressives believed conscription was a violation of democratic and republican principles.
  5. Congress instead created a draft which created a new system called selective service.
  6. The Selective Service Act of 1917 required all men between 21 and 30 to register for the draft
  7. This lottery randomly determined the order they were called before a local draft board in charge of selecting or exempting people from military service.
  8. Local boards were created consisting of civilians from local communities.
  9. Progressives believed local people would now which men to draft.
  10. 2.8 million were drafted
  11. Volunteers for War
  12. 2 million men volunteered for many reasons
  13. Grew up listening to stories of the Civil War and Spanish American war.
  14. Great adventure and wanted to fight for a cause
  15. Morale remained high throughout the war and helped ensure an Allied Victory
  16. African Americans in the War
  17. 400k were drafted but only 42k served in combat troops.
  18. African Americans were discriminated and served in racially segregated units under white officers.
  19. Despite these drawbacks, many African Americans fought with distinction.
  20. 92nd and 93rd Infantry divisions fought along the Western Front
  21. 369th won the highly prized French decoration, the Croix de Guerre, “War Cross” for gallantry in combat.
  22. Women in the Military
  23. First time women officially served in the armed forces as noncombat positions.
  24. Women nurses served in both the army and navy.
  25. Before WWI, nurses were not assigned ranks and technically not enlisted.
  26. Early 1917, the navy authorized the enlistment of women to meets its clerical needs enlisted 11k
  27. Women performed clerical duties, others served as radio operators, electricians, pharmacists, and photographers.
  28. The Army hired women as temporary clerical workers but enlisted women in the Army Nursing Corps.
  29. Over 10k were sent overseas in the army, total of 20k served
  30. Organizing Industry
  31. The War Industries Board
  32. First agency established was the War Industries Board (WIB) in July 1917.
  33. Coordinate the production of war materials.
  34. At first, the WIB wasn’t given to much power but by March 1918, Wilson decided it needs better coordination.
  35. Bernard Baruch reorganized and ran the WIB using a wall Street eyes, the WIB told manufactures what to produce.
  36. WIB controlled the flow of raw materials, construction of new factories, and set prices.
  37. Food and Fuel
  38. Herbert Hoover ran the Food Administration which increased food production while reducing civilian consumption,.
  39. Hoover encouraged Americans to save food on their own: “Food Will Win the War-Don’t Waste It”
  40. Created Wheatless Mondays, Meatless Tuesdays, and Porkless Thursdays
  41. Citizens planted victory gardens to raise their own vegetables
  42. The Fuel Administration ran by Harry Garfield managed the nation’s use of coal and oil.
  43. Garfield introduced daylight savings time and shortened workweeks for factories that did not make war materials.
  44. Paying for the War
  45. By the end of the WWI, US was spending $44 million a day, spending $32 billion fro the entire conflict.
  46. Congress raised income taxes and placed new taxes on corporate profits and extra tax on the profits of arms factories.
  47. Besides taxes, the government borrowed over $20 billion from the American people by selling Liberty Bonds and Victory Bonds.
  48. Buying bonds meant Americans were loaning the government money in exchange for interest on their loan.
  49. Posters, rallies and “Liberty Loan sermons” encouraged people to buy the bonds as an act of patriotism.
  50. Mobilizing the Workforce
  51. The National War Labor Board (NWLB) was established to prevent strikes from disrupting the war effort.
  52. NWLB mediated labor disputes and pressured industries to grant concessions to workers (wage increase, 8 hour workday, right to unions to organize and bargain collectively.
  53. Labor leaders agreed not to disrupt war production with strikes
  54. Union membership increased to 1 million between 1917 and 1919.
  55. Women Support Industry
  56. Women filled industrial jobs vacated by men serving in the military.
  57. Shipping, manufacturing, and railroad industries
  58. After the war, men returned home and women stopped working.
  59. The Great Migration Begins
  60. With wartime jobs opening and high wages in the north, thousands of African Americans (500k) .
  61. Encouraged by recruiters promising high wages and work, massive population movement known as the Great Migration which altered the racial makeup of Chicago, New York, Cleveland, and Detroit.
  62. Mexican Americans Head North
  63. Between 1917 and 1920, 100k Mexicans headed north to escape political turmoil in Mexico and fill wartime labor shortages.
  64. Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico provided labor for the farms and ranches of the Southwest
  65. Others headed to wartime factory jobs in Chicago, St Louis, and Omaha
  66. Like Africans Americans, they faced hostility and discrimination in American cities and formed their own separate neighborhoods called barrios
  67. Ensuring Public Support
  68. Selling the War
  69. New government agency headed by George Creel, called the Committee of Public Information, had to sell the war to the American people.
  70. Creel recruited advertising executives, commercial artists, authors, songwriters, entertainers, public speakers, and motion picture companies to help sway public opinion.
  71. Pamphlets, posters, press release, short patriotic talks called “4 minute speeches” were delivered at movie theaters and public halls.
  72. All urged Americans to support the war by buying bonds and reporting draft dodgers.
  73. Organization supported draft dodgers and their right to object to serving in the war
  74. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) worked to protect people rights and focused on three civil liberties: freedom of inquiry and expression, equality for all before the law, and due process
  75. Civil Liberties Curtailed
  76. Besides using propaganda and persuasion, government restricted some civil liberties by passing legislation to fight antiwar activities or enemies at home.
  77. In the Espionage Act of 1917. Government established penalties and prison terms for anyone who gave aid to the enemy
  78. Also penalized disloyalty, giving false reports, or other interfering activities.
  79. Post Office hired college professors to translate foreign periodicals to find out if they contained antiwar messages
  80. The Sedition Act of 1918 expanding the Espionage Act by making any public expression of opposition to the war illegal.
  81. Allowed officials to prosecute anyone to criticized the president or government
  82. 1500 prosecutions and 1000 convictions
  83. A Climate of Suspicion
  84. The fear of spies and emphasis on patriotism quickly led to the mistreatment and persecution of German Americans.
  85. Advertisers began changing product names like liberty cabbage instead of sauerkraut, Salisbury steak was a hamburger.
  86. German languages classes were dropped from school curriculums.
  87. Orchestras stopped playing Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, and other German Composers
  88. Anti-German feelings led to violence against innocent citizens.
  89. Americans also targeted each other and formed private organizations such as American Protective League and the Boy Spies of America to spy on neighbors and coworkers.
  90. The Supreme Court Limits Free Speech
  91. In the Landmark case Schenck v. the United States (1919), Supreme court ruled that an individual’s freedoms of speech could be curbed when the words uttered constitute a “clear and present danger”
  92. Yelling fire in a crowded theater, freedom of speech would be superseded by the theater’s right to safety.
  93. “When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in times of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured as long as soldiers fight”

Federal Mobilization Agencies
Agency / Purpose
War Industries Board / Organized industry to increase efficiency , maximizing production
Railroad Administration / Assumed temporary control of rail lines to modernize equipment and increase operating efficiency
Food Administration / Supervised agricultural production, promoted food conservation and rationing
Fuel Administration / Increased production of coal and oil; maintained conservation of fuel with such innovation as daylight savings time.
National War Labor Board / Maintained cooperation between industry management and labor unions; acted as mediator to prevent and quickly settle disputes
Committee of Public Information / Provided propaganda to rally citizens support for all aspects of the war effort

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