The Home Front During WWI

1. How were the economy and workers mobilized for war?

2. How did the government maintain support for the war?

Financing the War

• War Revenue Act of 1917 passed to increase taxes

• Gov’t borrows $ from citizens in the form of Liberty Bonds

• Authority to regulate all materials needed in the war effort.

• Determined which factories would convert to war production.

• Set prices.

War Industries Board (WIB)

Regulating Food and Fuel• Food Administration created

to manage food production – Goal was to increase

production and conserve food

– Provided incentives for farmers

– Encouraged Americans to grow victory gardens

– Limited alcohol content

• National War Labor Board created– arbiter between

labor/business to prevent strikes

– Granted concessions to workers (8hr day, equal pay for women) in return for promise not to strike during war

Labor in WWI

• When men left their jobs to go to the front others came to fill their places – Northern factories recruited

Af-Am labor from South Great Migration

– Women: new job opportunities for duration of war

Labor in WWI Cont.

Influencing Public Opinion

• Committee on Public Information Created– Celebrities utilized– Patriotic posters and

pamphlets – Elimination of German

influence on American culture

• Espionage Act– Punished people for aiding the

enemy or refusing military duty• Sedition Act– Criminalized speaking out against

the war, government, military, flag– Harsh penalties for “obstructing

war effort”• Schenck v. United States: limits

free speech during war

Squashing Dissent

Talk to your neighbor:

• How did the government mobilize the economy and workers for war?

• How did the government maintain support for the war?