The Great WarPart Two

Wilson Returns to Progressive Ways• Backed anti-child labor law• Backed bill making it easier for farmers

to get low-interest loans• Approved a worker’s compensation

laws• Appointed liberal lawyer Louis Brandeis

to Supreme Court African-AmericansAfrican-Americans considered him a racist considered him a racist

WomenWomen gave no support for his lack of gave no support for his lack of voting actionvoting action

Wilson’s Peace Without VictoryPeace Without Victory

No side should profit from the war

• Countries should end the war and return to pre-war world

• Wilson feared he was being pushed into the war

• He tried to negotiate an end to it.

• Jan 22, 1917 Wilson called for and end to the war without victor

• His speech predicted — correctly — that any victory would simply assure more wars and more hate.

WarWarOn 4 March 1917 Wilson

gave his second term inauguration address

Within a month - on 2 April 1917 - he addressed the U.S. Congress to request permission to declare war upon Germany

“The world must be made safe for democracy."

Wilson believed that if U.S did not help to end war, losses and hatred would be so great that no democratic governments would be able to survive in the future

Patriotism for the War and Treason?

• Espionage Act• Made it a crime to interfere with recruiting

soldiers, aiding the enemy. Allows censorship of mail

• Sedition Act• Much stronger act... cracked down on

expression of opinion...could not be critical of government in any way

The Creel Committee asked all Americans to "report the man

who ... cries for peace, or belittles our efforts to win the

war." Send their names to the

Justice Department

Germans Americans• Teddy Roosevelt denounced "hyphenated

Americanism" and insisted that dual loyalties were impossible in wartime.

• Several thousand vocal opponents of the war were imprisoned.

• The Red Cross barred individuals with German last names from joining for fear of sabotage.

• One man was hanged in Illinois, apparently for no other reason than that he was of German descent.

• The killers were found not guilty of the crime and the hanging was called an act of patriotism by a jury.

Some Germans during this time "Americanized" their names…e.g. Schmidt to Smith, Müller to Miller

Newspapers also printed blacklists of names of Germans, including their addresses, headlined as German Enemy

• Sauerkraut came to be called "Liberty Cabbage“

• German measles became "liberty measles“

• Hamburger became "liberty steak"

• Dachshunds became "liberty pups".

Propaganda Hollywood

Stake Uncle Sam to Play Your HandStake Uncle Sam to Play Your Hand

Why the U. S. Entered the War

Effects of British Propaganda

America’s deep involvement in trade with Allies

Fear of German domination in Europe

Submarine warfare

ON THE HOMEFRONT

• Building for war (men, money, arms, supplies, etc...) was a huge task

• Government took over control of railroads…. businesses given more freedoms

Man called "human squirrel" climbing up Man called "human squirrel" climbing up rope on a building in Times Square during rope on a building in Times Square during a stunt for benefit of War Relief Funds a stunt for benefit of War Relief Funds during WWI. during WWI.

The Masses, was a satirical political journal that shut down by the U.S. government after the U.S. entered WWI.

Meatless Tuesdays

Herbert Hoover U.S. Food Administrator “Food will win the war”

• Meatless Tuesdays• Wheatless Thursdays• and "when in doubt, eat

potatoes." • It was all strictly voluntary

but rationing was avoided

Start of the Great Migration North

• African-Americans moved out of the rural south to northern cities to work in war factories

• 500,000 Blacks migrated to northern factories from 1914-18

The states in blue had the ten largest net gains of African Americans, while the states in red had the ten largest net losses

1916 - 1930

American Expeditionary Force The AEF

• The AEF took shape under the leadership of General "Black Jack" Pershing.

Gen. “Black Jack” PershingMajor General Leonard Wood

U.S. did do two things....

• 1. Convinced Allies to adopt a convoy system to escort merchant ships

• Resulted in less ship losses

• 2. Conceived and laid a gigantic minefield across North Sea

• Threatening U-boat access to Atlantic

56,571 mines 56,571 mines were laid by the were laid by the

US Navy.US Navy.

Selective Service Act of 1917 The Draft

• The biggest difference between the 1917 draft and the Civil War draft was that replacements could no longer be hired to fight in a person’s place

Every man between 21 and 30 had to Every man between 21 and 30 had to register. register. Each man received a number which was Each man received a number which was entered in the lottery entered in the lottery

Wilson’s 14 PointsWilson plan for peace and the post war world

• Abolition of secret treaties • Freedom of the seas • Free Trade • Disarmament • Adjustment of colonial claims

(decolonization and national self-determination)

• Russia to be assured independent development and international withdrawal from occupied Russian territory

• Restoration of Belgium to antebellum national status

• Alsace-Lorraine returned to France from Germany

• Italian borders redrawn on lines of nationality

• Autonomous development of Austria-Hungary as a nation, as the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved

• Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and other Balkan states to be granted integrity, have their territories de-occupied, and Serbia to be given access to the Adriatic Sea

• Sovereignty for the Turkish people of the Ottoman Empire as the Empire dissolved, autonomous development for other nationalities within the former Empire

• Establishment of an independent Poland with access to the sea

• General association of the nations – a multilateral international association of nations to enforce the peace (League of Nations)

Versailles Peace Treaty

The Big FourThe Big Four• 1. President Wilson • 2. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George • 3. French Premier George Clemenceau • 4. Italian PM Vittorio Orlando

George, Orlando, Clemenceau, Wilson

WilsonSought the establishment of

a League of Nations that would mediate all future conflicts between nations and make war as a means of politics unnecessary.

David Lloyd George Demilitarize Germany and to

get hold of its battle fleet and merchant navy

Clemenceau Wanted protection against a

future German invasion and high reparations from Germany…punish them harshly

OrlandoSought the lands it had been

promised for supporting the Allies

Germany Punished

• The harsh peace terms disappointed the Germans, who felt that they contradicted the promises Wilson had made to the new German government.

• Lost 1/8 of its land • Lost all of its colonies • Lost all of its overseas financial assets • Its military and navy all but eliminated

• Reparations: Germany would be accountable for all the damage done to civilian population of the allies.

• War Guilt Clause 231 : Germany had to admit full responsibility for starting the war.

Wilson and the Versailles Treaty

• Wilson submits Great War peace treaty to Senate in 1919

• Wilson thought the League would be so popular no one would dare vote against it…he was wrong

Republican Opponents to the Treaty • The point in question was Article X

Article X• The Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as

against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members of the League.

In case of any such aggression or in case of any threat or danger of such aggression the Council shall advise upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled

• This would require all member states to act as one, militarily and economically, against any aggressors

Groups in Congress Against the Treaty

• Mild Reservationists Those who would vote for treaty after SMALL changes were

made

• Strong Reservationists Those who would vote for treaty after MAJOR changes were

made

• Irreconcilables Those that refused to vote on treaty under any terms

Wilson v. Lodge

Wilson• Wanted treaty ratified

without any changed

Lodge• A mild reservationist, he

believed that the treaty, though well meaning, was poorly drafted

• Did not believe League members would go to war to enforce their decisions

• Not happy that US could be out voted by the likes of the British

Lodge ReservationsLodge’s Major Change: No troops sent without

Congressional approval

Wilson says the U.S veto vote in the League already did this

Wilson’s Push For The Treaty

• Toured the country promoting the Treaty and the League of Nations

• Became ill on October 2, 1919 and suffered a stroke

Edith Runs the White House

• “…I, myself, never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs.

The only decision that was mine was what was important and what was not, and the very important decision of when to present matters to my husband."

Edith in her electric carEdith in her electric car

Congress Ends War Without a Treaty

• May 20, 1920• Congress declared war over• An angry Wilson vetoed it.War did not officially end until he left office...

Signed a separate treaty with Germany in October of 1921

Wilson in 1923, a year before his deathWilson in 1923, a year before his death